FusionFall: story of Kira
by johntheanimefan
Summary: a human soldier teams up with Ed and Jack to track down a super weapon capable of winning them the war. Little do they know that this search will lead them to more answers to questions they didn't even think existed.
1. Chapter 1

Planet Fusion…

A planet sized, amorphous mass of slime and space debris. For untold eons it has wandered the cosmos, seeking any life to continue its never ending feast. None have withstood its onslaught. No matter how powerful the species, how numerous and destructive their technology and weaponry, the overwhelming scourge that is planet fusion would always win out in the end. And now, it has set its sights on planet earth.

The calling card is always the same. To prepare the planet for consumption, planet fusion sends hundreds of space rocks coated in the material that makes up planet fusion, known as fusion matter. These space rocks arrive years, or in some cases, such as our current one, decades before planet fusion is due to arrive. Once making landfall, the fusion matter takes on a semi sentience of its own, with its main purpose being to consume and assimilate. And consume and assimilate it did, everything touched by large amounts of fusion matter is transformed and mutated into horrific creatures crafted from everyday objects from mere household appliances to entire buildings or forests. Naturally, the people of planet earth were overwhelmed at first: scattered, defenseless and divided. However, everything changed when an ambitious, ingenious young lad rose to the occasion. His name was Dexter, and, with the help of an at first small band of gifted individuals, formed the very first worldwide organization dedicated to the protection of earth and mankind, known as the Global Defense Initiative.

Now, almost 20 years after the initial invasion, the war between human and fusion rages on, with no feasible end in sight. This is especially disconcerting because every year, that little green dot in the sky that represents the oncoming extinction of the human race gets a little closer. In these chaotic times, very few things were certain, but one thing was…

They needed to do something, fast…

Our story truly begins with the screeching of tires and the echoes of gunfire, as a large APC rolled down an empty street at top speed. Behind them was a large flying creature similar to a gargoyle, except instead of stone, its skin was crafted from metal and dripping with the toxic green slime that signified the fusions, known fittingly enough as "fusion matter". The gargoyle opened its maw and released a blast of supercharged fusion matter. The APC pulled to the right to dodge the incoming blast, which blew a large chunk in the street. The gunman on top opened fire once more at the fusion, sending a storm of 5mm bullets at the gargoyle. While the gargoyle was able to dodge most of the bullets, however, a few managed to strike its wings. The gargoyle slowed its pursuit due to its injury, and, from the side of the APC, a hatch opened, allowing a new soldier to peek out of the vehicle. The soldier pulled out a grenade launcher and with a THOOM! The gargoyle's head was blown clean off. The soldier smirked under a concealing helmet before returning inside the APC.

About an hour later, the APC came to a stop outside the surprisingly imposing massive doors of the Peach Creek Fortress. The doors creaked open when the lookout was reassured that the approaching vehicle was that of human occupation. The APC drove into the fortress behind the walls. What had once been a Cul-De-Sac had since been converted into a mixture of a bazaar and a military base. The APC drove to the center of the square at the end, where it stopped and opened its back to let the soldiers out. The soldiers removed their helmets to cheer and congratulate each other.

"Ye-heah!" one shouted. "That nest didn't know what hit 'em!"

"That oughta keep the goops out of peach creek for at least three months!" said another. "Ain't that right, boss?"

From the APC walked the soldier with the grenade launcher, who removed her helmet to reveal a beautiful young lady with bone white hair and red eyes. A devil-may-care smirk graced her gorgeous face as she stepped out of the vehicle. "Dexter tells us that these things are at least semi sentient. You'd think by now they'd get "Kira's first law": play in my back yard, you play by my rules." Kira handed one of the soldiers her helmet, and another her grenade launcher.

"Technically speaking, Kira, it's my back yard, but you do have a point," said a voice from behind. Kira turned to see a shorter man clothed in a yellow tee shirt and a black business coat which clashed against each other. "So I'm to assume the nest is gone?" Eddy Vera, the head mogul of trade and commerce on the planet. Anyone who needed something moved somewhere had to go through his cardboard fortress at some point or another. While he had competition, for the most part everyone was focused on the war effort, and thus decided that having just one organization handle distribution was far simpler and more practical.

"All taken care of, Eddy," said Kira. "But then, was there ever any doubt?"

Eddy chuckled, with his trademark crooked smirk. "I guess not. By the way, I got a new job for you. Walk with me." Eddy and Kira walked away from the squad of soldiers. "So there's this rich a-hole-"

"Not another job protecting rich a-holes, please," Kira interrupted, rubbing her temples. "I thought I had finally gotten above all that."

"Now now, don't worry. Protecting the a-hole is a part of it, but there's more to it than that. He's apparently the grandson of a great archeologist whose name escapes me at the moment, and living off inheritance. He's apparently got this thing that his grandfather found one time, but never said where exactly he found it. It must be valuable in some way, considering that he's gone to every other hero organization to help him find it. Simply put, we're his last resort."

"And this should matter to us, why?"

"Because when we discussed payment, he told me to name my price. I of course did, and he said if I move him up on my priority list he'd double it. Leading to this being the price we agreed on." Eddy held up the check, which made Kira's jaw hit the floor. There had to be at least twelve zeroes on that check.

"He…he really wants this thing found," she said.

"Yeah, and pronto like. So, I'm assigning you to the mission. Find out where this, whatever it is, is, and then bring it here."

"And if we can't find anything?"

Eddy shrugged. "Then we double his payment for wasting our time. Either way, we all walk away even richer. Now get to the scamper, I'm sending Ed and Jack with you."

Kira raised an eyebrow. "Okay, really? Jack and Ed? Is this job really so dangerous that it requires two heroes?"

"Considering you're probably going to be heading into the darklands, yeah."

Kira shuddered. The darklands were the parts of the world that the fusions had overrun and completely taken over. She had heard tales of what it was like to be out there on the front lines. In short, this had better be worth it. Well, if nothing else, she would have two heroes coming along with her. And ones she trusted, at that. "And here I thought those two would be too busy on mount Olympus to help us mere mortals," she said. Ed had been indicted into the Hero program about 2 years ago, and she hadn't seen much of him since. More than likely, he was out on the front lines, doing his duty. Admirable, but she still missed her friend.

"Well, he would be if you weren't going on this mission," Eddy replied. "Once I told him you were going, he volunteered without question. Jack owes me a few favors, and he knows the darklands better than anyone, so he's coming too. Now hustle your bustle and get to work."

Kira rolled her eyes before grumbling out a "yes sir," and heading over to the armory to get her gear.

Kira entered the armory, where various battle suits and weapons were hanging from the walls and inside lockers. At the end of this weaponized hallway was Jimmy and Johnny, who were sitting behind a desk with a cash register-esque object nearby. Kira browsed the walls before finding the equipment she desired: a set of camo body armor, a compound bow with titanium dipped detonator arrows, and a laser sniper rifle with an advanced scope. She walked up to the counter and prodded Johnny, who was asleep with his feet propped up. "Hey, Woodie," she said, calling him by his nickname.

Johnny snorted and almost fell over from the rude awakening, but luckily he caught himself and sat up straight. "Oh, hey Kira," he said with a small wave. "Heading out for another mission? I thought you just got back."

"Yes, and I did," Kira replied, rubbing her temples. "It never ends, evidently…"

"Nope," Johnny replied as he rung up Kira's weapons. The machine wasn't really a cash register, but in fact a machine built to scan any weapon meant to leave the armory so that they won't trip the alarm when the wielder tried to leave. Kira grabbed her stuff and walked out. As she did so, she had herself a sigh. Something told her that this was gonna be a long mission.

Little did she know just how right she was…


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone, I'm hard at work on the next chapter of Dark Contract. I've just been preoccupied with a college project that has my balls in a vice, not to mention my other stories that I've simply had more inspiration for. But enough excuses, let's get on with the show. And don't worry, with luck I'll have chapters out much quicker after these first few. I've been cooking up this story way longer than any other story I have in my roster.**

Scampers were some of the fastest troop transports you can find, but unfortunately, they weren't the most comfortable. There's space enough to walk to your seat, but little else. And the seats were little more than metal slabs with couch cushions duck taped onto them (similar to how much of the K.N.D builds their machines). This of course left Ed very, very anxious. Especially since the once deceitfully scrawny boy had since grown into a veritable mountain of a man, thus leaving him even less room to stretch his legs. So he was forced to be content with drumming his fingers against the board and tapping the heel of his right foot. Across from him sat Jack, who was calmly sipping a cup of tea. The older gentleman did not try to calm ed down, as he'd known ed long enough to know that it was hopeless.

Finally, the Scamper's door opened and Kira, now dressed in her camo gear, stepped in. Ed immediately shot up to his feet to greet her. "Hey Kira!" he proclaimed.

Kira smiled at Ed, patting him on the arm. "Hey big guy. Long time no see," she said, turning to Jack. "Same to you, old timer."  
Jack smiled and nodded. Kira turned back to Ed. "So, we all know the job?"

"Yep," Ed replied. "Head to Genius Grove and talk to the rich guy."

"Well, okay then, let's get going." Kira pressed the button on the intercom. "Hey driver, we're ready to head out."

"Roger, setting course for genius grove," said the pilot. The scamper ascended into the air, waited for the overhead shielding above the fortress to open for them, and blasted off to the city.

Even so high up and even through the thick steel walls of the scamper, Kira could still hear the sounds of fighting down below. However, no one in the ship responded to the sound. It would've been more surprising to them to not hear gunfire and explosions in the streets below. But even though Kira didn't respond, she still heard all of it, and could only think of one thing

Whatever this rich a-hole had for them had better be worth it.

Later…

Genius Grove was, as the name implied, the home for the intellectual elite of the world. Anyone who wanted to make it big in science mathematics or art would move here if they had any sense. So, since this town was filled with so many geniuses, the streets were filled with more patrol drones than usual, and this made the streets relatively safe to travel. The scamper flew over the mansion where their contact lived. After getting clearance from the automated security system, the scamper landed on the helipad on the western end of the mansion. Ed was the first to exit, being anxious to have some open space after an hour of flying in that confined tub. Jack and Kira emerged after him, and Kira took the lead to greet the man approaching them. He was a lanky man in his mid-40's with blonde hair, dressed in a blue pinstripe suit. Kira approached him, offering her hand, but the man walked right past her to Ed and Jack. "Ah," he said, offering Ed his hand. "You must be the heroes Mr. Vera sent. My name is Albert Trevelyan. It's an honor to meet you both." Kira rolled her eyes.

Ed composed himself and shook Trevelyan's hand. "Hello, my name is Ed," Ed said, doing his best to twist his usual dunderhead tone of voice into something respectable.

Jack also accepted the offered hand and bowed afterwards. "My name is Jack, and the pleasure is ours."

"And my name is Captain Kira Niste," Kira said, walking in front of Trevelyan and offering her hand.

Trevelyan looked her up and down and let out an unimpressed "hmm," before saying, "You don't look like one of the heroes."

"Well, technically I'm not bu-"

"Then I don't see why you're here, Ms. Niste" Trevelyan interrupted.

Kira's other hand silently clenched, trying to quell her temper. Luckily, Jack intervened. "Mr. Trevelyan," he said, stepping in front of Kira. "Captain Niste has been placed in charge of this mission. Ask Mr. Vera, and you'll find he has the utmost faith in Captain Niste's abilities. Rest assured, she is just the person you need." Jack's tone and dialect were calm and respectful, but the subtle emphasis he put on Kira's rank were not lost on her.

Trevelyan put up his hands. "Alright, alright," he said. "Far be it from me to doubt Mr. Vera's judgement. If you'll follow me, I'll fill you all in." Trevelyan turned and walked back into his house, expecting the others to follow. Jack turned to Kira and gave her an assuring nod before following Trevelyan.

Ed's large hand found its way onto Kira's shoulder. "Wow," he said. "What an a-hole."

"Eh, I'm used to it," Kira said with a shrug. "People want heroes, not other people." Kira walked to the door, with Ed following her. The whole time, Ed trying to figure out something to say.

Trevelyan led the group to his study, where he sat at his desk to face them. "My grandfather was an obsessive in everything he did," he said. "Whether it was work, family or anything in between, he toiled away with every fiber in his being for whatever he deemed worth a second look. And it is this obsessive nature that ended up killing him." Trevelyan reached into his desk and pulled out a file, which he placed in front of the trio. Kira took the file and opened it to read the information within. "My grandfather was convinced that there existed an ancient weapon. A piece of alien tech even older than the alien races that Aku allowed to inhabit the planet during his reign. He called it "Orion's Hammer" that my grandfather believed could destroy entire planets."

Kira pursed her lips as she read through the file. The story was, of course, absolutely insane, but she had to admit, it was well researched insanity. "According to his notes," said Kira. "He apparently knew where in the darklands it was. So why didn't he find it?"

"He died before he could start digging," said Trevelyan. "Apparently, it's right smack dab in the middle of a fusion general's territory."

Now normally, hearing that tid bit would make Kira immediately cancel the deal. No point in throwing away soldiers on some dead man's hunch. But the more Kira read the notes, the more doubt crept in her mind. There was only one thing to do. "Huddle!" she called out to Ed and Jack. The three bolted to the other side of the room and huddle together. "Okay, I know how crazy this story sounds, but hear me out."

"Darklands fusion general are not to be trifled with, Kira," said Jack. "They have a constant link to fusion matter, making them more powerful and incapable of tiring."

"Yes, I know all this," Kira said with a roll of her eyes.

"Then why do you want us to go there so bad?" asked Ed.

"The notes are pretty damn thorough. If you wanna look at them, go ahead. I'm telling you, there is SOMETHING there, and if there is even a one percent chance of it being this planet busting super weapon that Trevelyan thinks it is, I say we take it." Ed and Jack looked to each other, then at Kira, then Ed looked down at the floor. "You've seen the reports," Kira said, her eyes pleading. "We have two years until planet Fusion is in our solar system. We have two years left to live. We need a solution, and we need it now."

Ed looked at Kira's eyes and sighed. How could he say no when she looked at him like that? "Alright, I'm in," Ed said with a smile.

Jack nodded. "You will need my knowledge of the Darklands if we are to succeed. So I will join you."

Kira smiled at her two friends. "Thank you," she said before turning back to Trevelyan. Just in time too, because Ed could no longer hold back the intense blush that was a result of them being so close. Not to mention that smile didn't help matters at all. Jack smirked and gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

Kira walked up to Trevelyan's desk. "So?" asked Trevelyan.

"We're in," said Kira. "We'll go to the Darklands."


	3. Chapter 3

Once Kira had sent the call in to Eddy, he had ships blasting off to the darklands within the following hour. Of course, Kira and company (and Trevelyan) were on one of these ships, bound for what was known as Dinosaur pass.

Whatever the darklands were before wasn't forgotten per say, it was simply deemed irrelevant. Whatever the darklands were before, they could never be again. Fusion matter had so thoroughly soaked and polluted the soil that barely anything grew there anymore that wasn't made by fusions. Not even the benefit of being several miles in the air in a scamper could hide from Kira just how ugly and alien the land was.

It took three rounds of bombing runs on their destination before it was deemed safe to land. Immediately, soldiers started setting up a perimeter around the site to keep away any other fusions that might've been drawn to their location. Once the heavier excavation equipment had been transported, the work began.

After the first day of digging had concluded, Kira decided that it was now time to call up the boss. So she returned to her scamper to use the on board computer to call him. However, she got Double d instead. Double d had long since traded his plain red shirt for a lab coat and goggles, but kept his signature sock hat. "Hey, when you find a look that works" is what he'd say if you were to bring it up to him. "Hey Double d," Kira said. "Where's Eddy?"

"Conducting a meeting," Double d replied. "I'll relay your message to him. So, how're things progressing?"

"Well, it's only the first day, so it's not like I expected to find anything right out of the gate. But according to our scanners, there's literally nothing out here for miles around or even underground. We'll probably stick around for a few more days, but I don't want to stay here longer than I have to."

"Probably the wisest course of action. Trevelyan will pay us one way or another, and if this wild goose chase of his gets too many of our men killed, Eddy plans to take everything the a-hole has. I do hope he realizes this."

"Oh trust me, I let him know."

"Good, now get some sleep, for god's sake. Your bags have bags. Double d out." The computer went black, allowing Kira to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"No, no time for sleep," she said to herself. There would be time for sleep when the job was finished. She forced herself to her feet and walked out of the scamper to check on the progress.

She found Ed sitting on a rock, watching the machines digging into the ground while enjoying a cup of coffee. Kira sat down next to him, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "Hey," she said.

"Hey Kira," Ed said with a smile. He then handed Kira his coffee, having gotten a good look at her face. "Here, you need this more than I do."

"Thanks," she said, accepting the coffee and taking a long sip of the liquid.

"Personally, I'd recommend sleep. But I think I know where that talk would go."

"Fuse doesn't sleep. I will when one of us is dead. Preferably him."

"Fuse doesn't need to sleep. You do."

"And here I thought you knew where this talk would go. Look, we need to get back to work." Kira finished her coffee and carelessly threw it behind her. After all, there's no way she can screw over the environment any more than it has already.

"Hey," said Ed, standing up behind her. "You think we can talk, later? It's been a few years, we haven't talked in…" Ed counted in his head for a second before looking back at her again. "We haven't talked."

Kira looked at him and smiled. "Sure. I'd love to. Now c'mon, I'm sure Jack is just bored to tears without us." With a chuckle, Ed followed behind her.

Meanwhile…

With a sharp battle cry, Jack pummeled the punching bag in front of him. He was the only one currently in the makeshift gym built to keep the workers and soldiers preoccupied. He didn't mind, as he preferred training on his own. He landed several more punches at lightning speeds on the punching bag, about to continue when a familiar sharpness in his chest arose. He grabbed the chain holding up the bag for support as he doubled over, his other hand gripping his chest. He reached into his robe and pulled out a small pillbox. He swallowed three of the pills from the pillbox before quickly hiding the box in his robe again, lest someone see it. He breathed for a moment or two, waiting for the medicine to ease the pain in his chest. He swiftly composed himself when he heard someone approaching. It was Ed and Kira. Jack turned to meet them with a smile. "I trust all is well back at the cul-de-sac?" asked Jack.

"As well as it normally is," Kira replied with a shrug. "So where's Trevelyan?"

"He said something about wanting to inspect the construction site," Jack replied. "I told him it was too dangerous, and he said he'd go speak with you about it." It took Jack repeating the events back out loud for him to realize he'd been played. One firm facepalm later, all three ran out of the gym to find Trevelyan.

"What do you mean you haven't found anything?" asked Trevelyan.

The foreman rubbed his temples with one hand, while the other handed Trevelyan a clipboard. "Just what I said. We haven't found crap since we got here."

"I've given you the exact location, and in just one day, you've turned this place topsy turvy. You must at least have a reading of some kind."

The foreman groaned and put his face in his hand. The sun was starting to go down by now, and he hoped that this guy would get bored and leave instead of talking his ears off all night. "And we ain't found nothin. The only reason we're still here is because we have picked up signs of an underground cave that may hold some answers. But if our bad luck continues down there, you're gonna be lookin at a hefty fee, bud."

Trevelyan put down the clipboard and was about to chastise the foreman for his tone, when Kira burst into the room. "There you are!" she said. Kira reached over and grabbed Trevelyan's ear, pulling him out of the foreman's office.

"Ow, ow ow, okay I'm going," said Trevelyan.

'We are so so sorry about that," said Ed, bowing repeatedly.

"It's fine Ed," said the foreman. "Just keep a better eye on him next time."

"Of course sir," Ed said with a smile as he and Jack followed Kira out of the room.

Once outside, Kira released Trevelyan's ear. Although her face made it obvious to Ed and Jack that little would've highlighted her day more than ripping the rich prick's ear off of his head. "Okay, lunchbox-," said Kira, earning a confused look from Trevelyan and Jack mouthing "lunchbox?" to a shrugging Ed. "-just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I was simply checking up on the status of the excavation," said Trevelyan with a pout.

"We've only been here for one day, if we find anything, trust me, you'll be the first to know."

"I don't see what is so offensive about me just going to talk to the foreman."

"Talking to the foreman is fine. Harassing the foreman is where problems start cropping up."

"I have been waiting for this day for most of my life, and I-" Before he could finish, Kira grabbed Trevelyan by the tie and pulled him down to her eye level.

"And now that we're on the precipice of meeting the goal, you will wait however long I say you will wait, capiche?"

Trevelyan gulped before muttering out a "Capiche." Kira him go, allowing Trevelyan to stand upright and arch his back to work out the kink that had formed from having to bend down to the petite young lady's level.

Kira huffed and dusted off her hands. "Good to hear," she said. "Now, you're going to-" Just then, an alarm sounded throughout the camp, similar to a tornado alarm, but much higher pitched in order to emphasize that you should really start panicking when it came on. Kira's head had shot around to look out to the camp below. She then turned back to Trevelyan to finish her sentence. "-You're going to get to the escape choppers and get the hell out of here. Now." Trevelyan shakily nodded before running to join a nearby crowd of fleeing researchers, along with the foreman.

Kira pulled out and unfolded her bow, Ed threw off his windbreaker, and Jack unsheathed his sword. Without a single moment's hesitation, the three leapt over the railing and sped down the hill. Ed caught up to Kira, his eyes narrowed with focus, but momentarily laced with concern. "Does this mean what I think it means?" he asked. A part of him already knew for a fact, but he needed to be sure in case this was just another bad dream.

"Yeah, it does," Kira said. "It's a Fusion General…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Guess who's back, baby?! Yeah, I have no excuse for this taking so long; I simply ran out of inspiration. But Fusionfall is back with avengence. I promise the next chapter won't take nearly as long. I even doubled my usual length to compensate. Anyway, enjoy ^_^**

Kira hated the smell of fire. Especially when it was mixed with the various smells of burning buildings. The mere smell took her places she didn't want to go. Dark places where the screaming never stopped. It took everything Kira had to block out the bad memories and focus on the site of the destruction. The outer wall now sported a very large hole, as well as a trail of fire and destruction that weaved through the rubble of three buildings and several ruined vehicles. Kira, Jack and Ed stopped at the edge of the carnage to search through the smoke for any threats. And they found one, walking out of the smoke like it was taking a morning stroll. Kira and Ed's blood froze as the figure came closer. Besides its slimy, glowing green skin and right red orbs in place of its eyes, it was the spitting image of Ed. "Fusion Ed," Kira muttered.

"One of the most powerful fusion generals," Jack chimed in, readying his sword.

Fusion Ed chuckled in that condescending way one would chuckle at their dog wagging its tail. "Well well," he said, his voice cool, even, inhuman. "Is this coincidence or providence? Who can say?" he gestured to Ed. "Not just my double-" his hand moved to Kira and Jack. "-but two of his little friends too. Tell me, are the other two eds here with you?"

"Shut up!" Screamed Ed as he launched himself at his fusion counterpart. His drawn back fist bulged and engorged to almost twice its original size. This was Ed's power: transference of body mass. "10 ton fist!" was Ed's battlecry as he brought the fist down on fusion ed's head. Or, he would've, if the fusion general hadn't caught the fist inches away from its impact without budging a centimeter.

"Still as petulant as ever, I see," sneered Fusion Ed as he threw his human double like a ragdoll to the side. Ed bounced along the ground twice before landing on his feet and regaining his composure.

"Why are you here?" asked Kira.

"You bombed and built a facility on my territory, and you expected me to just sit idly by?" Fusion ed asked with a cocked eyebrow (or at least the closest it had to an eyebrow) "Besides, I couldn't resist seeing my favorite people again."

Ed rejoined the other two, still fuming with rage. "Ed," Kira said. "You need to cool your friggin jets. He's just trying to mess with you."

Ed looked to Kira. After a few seconds, he nodded and took a breath to calm himself. "Very impressive," said Fusion Ed, giving Kira a golf clap. "I'm so glad to see my double has found a woman who ISN'T immediately repulsed by his appearance…or his stench, for that matter." Fusion ed then ducked his head out of the way of one of Kira's arrows, which impacted, and exploded, a rock behind him. Fusion Ed retaliated by firing beams of red plasma from his eyes, which the three were just barely able to dodge. "You sly pup, you caught me monologing!" Fusion Ed let out a guffaw of maniacal laughter.

Kira stumbled back to her feet after landing away from the blast zone. Kira was in a cold sweat as she stared down the monster before her. If they ran, he'd just help himself to the fleeing ships. If they stayed, they'd probably die.

A part of her wanted to run, but another part of her spoke up. _This guy is one of the highest fusion generals there are,_ said the voice. _Taking him out would monkey wrench Fuse's plans like nothing else!_ Kira smirked and stood up. The answer was obvious. "Ed! Jack!" she cried out, getting the two's attention. Kira pointed at the fusion double of her best friend and growled. "Take him!"

Kira drew her sniper rifle, while Ed and Jack charged Fusion Ed. Jack drew his sword while Ed increased the mass on his fists. Fusion Ed effortlessly dodged the slashes and punches from his two opponents, failing to notice his third opponent drawing a bead on him. "Eat it, goop head," Kira growled as she pulled the trigger. The rifle screeched as blue energy erupted from the barrel, traveling at light speeds to fusion Ed's head. Fusion Ed had no time to react, the spear of plasma thrice as hot as napalm cleaved through his gooey head and continued off into the distance.

The body of the fusion general stood still for a second before falling on its back. Kira walked up to the prone body, keeping her gun trained on the fusion general. "Just need another shot…" She said, lining up a point blank shot at the fusion. However, before she could fire, Ed picked her up bridal style and took off as fast as he could in the other direction, Jack close behind. "Ed! What the hell are you doing?!" she yelled, trying to force herself out of Ed's arms.

"I'm saving your life!" Ed replied.

"But we had him! We could've finally taken down one of the fusion generals!"

"Trust me Kira," said Jack. "At worst, you just made him angry. We need to regroup with Trevelyan and the others, provided the evac ship haven't been shot down yet."

Kira growled, still struggling to be let out of Ed's grasp. "If I just had one more shot, we could've turned this whole war around!"

Ed resorted to using his powers to keep her restrained in his arms. "Kira, calm down and think!" he said, internally reeling from the fact that _he_ was the one begging for reason.

"Don't you…you…"Kira stiffened like a board as she looked up into the sky. Ed and Jack turned their heads to see Fusion Ed floating in the sky above them.

"Well that wasn't very nice, my dear," he said, flashing a twisted smirk.

Ed and Jack picked up their pace, Ed adding mass to his legs to give himself more push, while Jack drew from his inner reserves to push himself to his limit. But it wasn't enough, as Fusion Ed effortlessly kept up with them in the sky.

"You disappoint me, double," he said, holding his right hand above his head. A bright green orb of energy gathered in his open palm. The orb grew in size for several seconds, until the orb, surging with green electricity, was ten times its creator's size. "But then, that was never in doubt." Fusion Ed threw down the blast straight at the three. While the orb didn't hit the three directly, its impact shook the ground apart. Geysers of fusion matter sprung up around them as they outran the crumbling earth right behind them. Their luck ran out, however, when the orb finally exploded.

Ed curled up into a fetal position, protecting Kira from the worst of the blast that sent the three hurtling down into a pit of crumbling earth. Before Ed lost consciousness, he got one look at their fate; a pool of fusion matter at the bottom of the ravine.

As Jack fell alongside his companions, he decided that now was as good a time as any. _I just need 30 seconds,_ he thought to himself as he pushed his body to its furthest limit. As his body bulked up, his chest throbbed from the strain on his heart. Jack ignored the pain and steered his fall to a stone that was falling next to him. Placing his feet on the stone, he focused on his two objectives: his friends, and a cave in the side of the ravine. Putting everything he had into his feet, he launched off of the rock, grabbed Ed and Kira, and flew into the cave right as the tremors caused the entrance to collapse behind them.

Meanwhile…

Fusion Ed looked down from his perch in the sky at the mile long crater that came from his blast. The fusion chastised himself internally for being so reckless. An entire acre of fusion matter evaporated. "I doubt this will go over well with-"

"No, no it will not," a voice from behind finished for him. Fusion Ed turned around to see a large green eye with tentacle floating in front of him.

Fusion Ed immediately bowed before the eye. "Master Fuse!" he said.

"There had best be a good explanation for why you reduced an entire acre of fusion matter to ash and rubble," said the eye. The voice coming from the creature was not its own, for such a small, lowly creature couldn't hope to produce such a voice of its own accord. This creature was known as a Fusion Emissary. Their sole purpose was to give Lord Fuse a means of interacting with his minions from Planet Fusion.

"The humans were searching for something," said Fusion Ed. "My…double, was among them. I became overzealous in destroying him, my lord."

"I see," said Fuse. "And you are certain he is dead?"

"I am certain he is at least wounded," said Fusion Ed. "Sadly my double is notoriously stubborn."

"Leave nothing to chance," Fuse ordered. "Have your fusions patrol the crater and look for any caves that he may have fled to."

"At once, my lord," Fusion Ed replied.

"And when you find him, please, do not reduce the entire darklands to waste simply to sate your own primal rage." With that, the Fusion Emissary took to the sky and flew off into the horizon.

Fusion Ed watched the retreating emissary with a snarl on his lips. "As you command…master."

Meanwhile…

Kira awoke with a sharp gasp, shooting upwards. Ed caught her before she made too many sudden movements. "Easy there," he said, holding her by the shoulders.

Kira turned to Ed. "Ed?" she asked, out of breath. "Where-where are we?"

"A cave," Ed replied with a shrug.

Kira's face went deadpan. "Very specific," she said. Kira, with Ed's help, got to her feet. "Where's Jack?"

"Present," said Jack from behind the two. Kira and Ed turned to see Jack leaning against a stalagmite, gripping his chest.

"Jack," Kira said, summoning strength enough to walk over to the samurai. "Are you okay?"

Jack let out a breathless chuckle. "Let's just say I'm nowhere near as young as I used to be." Jack extended his foot to take a step, but ended up stumbling. Ed caught the old man before he hit the ground.

"We need to get out of here and find you a doctor," said Ed.

"And what makes you think we'll get very far out there?" asked Kira. "You stopped me from finishing off Fusion Ed. He probably knows we're not dead and will have search parties come looking for us."

"Kira, you must believe us," said Jack. "If we thought you really could defeat Fusion Ed as you are now, we would have let you."

"I had him dead to rights," Kira growled.

"No matter how many times you shot him, we remain in the darklands. Fusion Ed has an unlimited supply of fusion matter here. There is no wound he wouldn't heal from."

Kira growled and turned away from her friends, crossing her arms. She couldn't help but loosen when Ed's hand landed on her shoulder as gently as he could. "Kira," he said. "You think it was him, don't you?"

Kira went from crossing her arms to holding her upper arms in her hands. "I…I don't know, okay? It could've been him, there's no proof to say he didn't."

"What are you talking about?" asked Jack.

Kira perked up when she remembered the third member of this conversation. She turned to Jack, mouth opened to explain, when another tremor shook the cave. The force of the shaking was enough to send the three to the ground.

"The entire thing must be collapsing in on itself!" Jack yelled over the sound of the quake.

"We have to get out of here!" Ed said.

Kira looked around for any kind of exit. Then, more rumbling, closer to where she was. Kira looked behind to see another cave caused by the quakes. "There!" she yelled. The three ran as fast as they could through the exit.

Only for their feet to land on nothing.

All three looked down at the yawning pit of blackness beneath them with eyes the size of dinner plates. "Well, we all saw that coming," Kira said with a shrug. Ed and Jack nodded in agreement. Then, as cartoon law dictates, the three fell. Luckily, there were some nice soft rocky slopes to slow their descent into the cavern.

Ed landed first, then Kira on top of him, then Jack on top of them. Jack immediately rolled off and stumbled to his feet, clutching his throbbing head.

"Worst. Treasure hunt. Ever…" Kira said, her voice being muffled by Ed's shirt. Kira looked up, her exasperated gaze meeting Ed's wide eyes and blushing face. Kira then looked back down, seeing their current position. Her face went slightly red, but she was far too tired to be embarrassed, so she simply rolled off of Ed's chest and breathed out a "Sorry".

"S'okay," said Ed, who stood up and offered Kira his hand to help her to her feet. Kira took the hand and got to her feet.

"Getting really tired of this cave," she grumbled, clutching her throbbing head. When Ed refused to respond, she looked up at her friend. Ed was silent and staring past her in silent awe. Kira turned to Jack to find him in much the same way. Kira finally turned to see what they were looking at, and joined them in their slack jawed veneration.

Standing before them, a mere half mile away, in the middle of the gigantic cavern, was a great metal pyramid. Four stories tall, the tip halfway to the ceiling of the cave, and covered in dust and dirt, yet it appeared no worse for wear.

Kira was the first to break her trance with words. "I think we found it," she said. "This must be it…The Orion's Hammer."


	5. Chapter 5

Ed and Jack had no clue of what to make of the structure in front of them, but Kira's claim was enough to prompt them pivoting on their feet and facing their captain with baffled stared. "Wait, what?" asked Ed.

Kira broke her own stare at the structure to look at her friends. "W-well, look at it. What else could it be?" she asked, gesturing to the pyramid.

Ed and Jack returned to looking at the pyramid. "Well," said Ed, who scratched the top of his head in frustration. "Alien tech is all over the planet."

"But I have seen almost every kind of alien technology there is," Jack added, stroking his chin. "And I have never seen anything quite like this before."

"Well, we might as well go check it out, long as we're here," said Kira, who walked past her companions. Ed and Jack followed behind as Kira carefully climbed down the steep hill that lead to the pyramid.

Several minutes of walking finally brought the three to their destination. The pyramid only seemed to get bigger the closer they got to it, the dull grey metal looming over them, making them appear like ants approaching a metal wall. Kira carefully stepped closer to the wall, dusting off the sand from the metal. "Who knows how long this has been here," she said, craning her neck back as she looked up the wall. "And yet I don't see a single scratch."

"It's completely preserved," said Jack, who also closely inspected the wall.

"You guys really think we should be touching it?" asked Ed, who stayed a good 5 paces away from the wall.

"We just faced down one of the top fusion generals and lived, and you're scared of a pyramid?" asked Kira, who looked back at him with a mirthful smirk.

"Well ancient Egypt _is_ the root of all evil," Ed replied with a matter-of-fact nod.

 _Well, that's not UNtrue,_ Jack thought to himself as he continued along the wall.

"Whatever, you wanna stay over there, fine," said Kira, who returned to her search. Her frustration mounted as the minutes passed. Mostly because there wasn't the slightest sign of an entrance. Not even the sign that an entrance had been sealed off. The whole structure was just smooth metal all around. This wouldn't have been as much of a problem, if not for the fact that the pyramid was so big, that checking one side would probably take them at least a day, and Kira wasn't sure how much air was down here.

Just as she had decided to give up for a bit, her hand landed on an unmarked, seemingly random section of the wall. Which proceeded to engulf that entire section of wall in blue light. Kira and Jack jumped back, reeling from the light. "I knew it!" Ed shouted, covering his eyes like the others. "Nothing good ever comes from a pyramid!" The light grew in intensity for just a moment before dispersing completely. The three uncovered their eyes to find that, in the place of the light, was an open doorway leading to a long, dark hall into the pyramid.

All three stared with slack jaws. Kira tore her eyes away from the door to look down at her hand. "Did…did I do that?" she asked under her breath.

"Maybe you just found the On switch?" Ed suggested.

"Whatever you did, it appears we have our way in," said Jack.

Kira shook her head, putting her mind back on track. "Yeah, let's get going." Kira walked ahead, followed by Jack. Kira looked back at Ed, who while following, was slacking behind a bit. Kira sighed. "I know, okay? Pyramids are evil. But we've come this far, we might as well go in, right? Besides, don't I always protect you?" She asked with a smirk.

Ed sighed before catching up. "Fine, let's go," he said. "But if there's a mummy in there, we're leaving."

Kira shrugged. "Fair enough." With that, the three entered the pyramid.

The inside of the pyramid was chokingly dark, even with the temporary light provided by the open door. Adding to the unease was that the interior of the pyramid was completely devoid of any smells. Beyond the echoes of their footsteps, there weren't even any sounds. Were it not for the small metal hallway giving them something to touch, as well as Kira's good fortune to have a few flares on her to act as a torch, the inside of the pyramid would've been akin to a sensory deprivation tank.

Kira, Ed, and Jack walked down the halls for what felt like hours, descending further and further into the pyramid. Along the way, Kira took the time to inspect the walls. Unlike the smooth and bare outer walls, the inner hallways were lined with what Kira could only guess to be computers, but ones far beyond anything on earth. There were no screens, instead little nodes which Jack postulated to be very advanced hologram projectors. The floor was occasionally littered with the dead husks of mouse sized machines. Closer inspection revealed them to be tiny robots meant for cleaning, for their underside was lined with brushes which concealed very small vacuums. And yet, even with these robots having clearly been dead for a long time, the inside was still perfectly sanitized and preserved.

"So," Ed said, finally breaking the silence he'd adopted throughout the entire trek. "I think we may be lost."

"Oh, we're definitely lost," said Kira, who didn't even bother looking back. "I'm trying to find some kind of generator so I can turn on the lights. We can worry about getting out when the power's on."

"Fair eno-" Ed was in the middle of a shrug when his eye caught something further down the hall. "Hey, look at that," he said, pointing forward. Kira and Jack focused their vision down the hall, seeing a small blue light glimmer through the darkness.

"Finally," Kira groaned, increasing her pace to reach the light.

"Kira, be careful!" Ed cried out, pushing himself past jack to catch up with her.

Jack promptly followed. "Indeed, we cannot be certain of anything here," he said.

"For heroes, you two worry a lot," Kira said, continuing toward the light. As she neared the light, a low buzzing sound echoed through the hall. The closer the light got, the louder the buzzing became. Until the light finally reached Kira. The lack of any light besides her flares made Kira wince at the blue light in front of her. But when she opened her eyes, all that was in front of her was a small blue orb, floating in mid-air. "Um…hello," she said with a sheepish grin.

The orb flew closer to her face, a little white circle on the front (it's eyes, Kira guessed) swerved up and down, looking her over. "&*%$# &**#$*(*# " said the orb. Though Kira understood exactly none of what it said, its tone of voice suggested friendliness.

"Pardon?" asked Kira.

Ed and Jack caught up with Kira, eyeing the floating orb suspiciously. "Careful," said jack. "It could be a security drone."

"I'd really like to not fight in this hallway," said Ed, who shifted his body as to be less cramped in the tight hall.

The orb looked past Kira at Ed and Jack. "%^$&#$ *#&^$#" said the orb, whose tone had become significantly less friendly. The orb turned red and glowed with increased intensity.

"Seems we are unwelcome," said jack, who started drawing his sword, while Ed added mass to his fists.

Kira jumped up in front of the orb's vision, returning its attention to her. "Hey, it's okay," she said, pointing back at her friends. "They're with me, they're cool."

The orb floated silently for a few seconds before it spoke again. "&%$#& # " the orb's tone was back to being friendly, and its color returned to bright blue, "#$% #&%$". The orb must have issued a command, for a low hum gathered throughout the halls. Small circular slots in the ceiling opened, allowing blue crystals to float down right above their heads. The crystals lit up with blue light, illuminating the hall. The old computers on the walls, as well as the tiny robots on the floor crackled to life.

The three looked around, stunned at the sudden life of the pyramid. "The orb must have activated the generators," said Jack.

"But why?" asked Ed.

"I think…" Kira chimed in, stroking her chin. "I think it was for me."

"That would appear to be the case," said Jack.

"Okay," said Ed. "But why?"

"Why're you asking me?" asked Kira, looking back at him. "I'm as lost as you are." Kira was then nudged in the back by the orb until she turned around to face it.

"%$#& #&%" said the orb, which turned around and floated back down the hall the way it came. When Kira didn't follow at first, the orb stopped and looked back at her.

"I think it wants us to follow," said Jack.

"When it's not glowing bright red and shrouded in darkness, that orb is adorable," said Ed with a toothy grin.

"Well, let's not keep our new little friend waiting," said Kira, who looked back with an ear to ear smile. "The Orion's Hammer awaits!" Kira bounded down the hall, following the orb.

Ed and Jack walked after the two. "This may still not be the Orion's Hammer," said Jack.

"Probably," Ed replied with a shrug. "But if whatever's down here needed a metal pyramid and several miles of rock to hide it, it's probably something big."

"That's what I'm afraid of…" jack said solemnly as they caught up with Kira.

Later…

Several more minutes of walking brought the three to a door. Beside the door was a small spherical slot, into which the orb inserted itself. A small web of veins around the slot glowed with blue energy, and the door slid open. The orb removed itself from the slot and flew into the room, waiting for them to follow.

"Keep your guard up," said Jack. "We know not what we are about to see." No weapons were drawn, as to not prematurely upset the orb, but all three remained on alert. Kira entered the room, followed by Ed and Jack. The room was a small observatory overlooking a gigantic yawning pit, whose bottom was too far down to see. A door off to Kira's left lead out onto a catwalk that stretched out to the very center of the pit. And at the end of the catwalk was a single pedestal, and a single red button.

Kira's eyes widened in utter shock. "My god…we've really found it," she said.

"Kira, we don't know that," said Jack.

"Well, what else could it be?" Ed asked.

"I don't know, but it's never this easy." Jack's eyes narrowed on the orb, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, just in case.

Kira, meanwhile, walked over to the door, looking back at the orb expectantly. The orb bobbed up and down, mimicking a nod, and Kira turned back to the door. But before she could open it, Ed's hand landed on her shoulder. "Kira, maybe Jack is right, maybe we should think about this," he said.

Kira didn't even turn around to face her friend. "Ed," she said calmly. "Let go of my shoulder, right now."

Ed tensed up, as the underlying hostility that laced her words sunk in. Limply, Ed's hand fell from her shoulder, and Kira continued out onto the catwalk. Ed watched her as she walked out, only broken from his trance by Jack walking up next to him. "She's obsessed," Jack said.

"She's just desperate," Ed replied.

"With her, there is no difference."

Kira continued down the catwalk, her focus squarely placed on the pedestal in front of her. _It's finally over,_ she thought to herself. She all but ran the rest of the way, stopping herself on the pedestal and looking down at the button. _One push, one little button, and the nightmare is over._ This had to be it. It just had to be. There was no hesitation as Kira slammed down on the button with her open palm. The button then rose from the pedestal, revealing a lever. Kira grabbed onto the lever with both hands. _So many people hurt by you, planet fusion. You probably don't even bother to remember anyone you kill. Well…We remember you._ Kira pulled down on the lever with all her strength. A second passed, then a rumbling. The rumbling grew louder until the entire room was shaking.

"Kira, get out of there!" Ed shouted, slamming his fists against the window.

"I-I can't!" she yelled back. Her hands were frozen to their spot, wrapped around the lever. Kira pulled as hard as she could, but her fingers refused to budge.

Ed's eyes widened, and he ran for the door to the catwalk. But the door would not open for him. Ed growled, turning back to the orb. "OPEN THIS DOOR!" he shouted, increasing the mass on his fist. However, the ceiling opened up above Ed, and down came a very large mounted turret, whose barrel pressed against Ed's head. Another came down to press against Jack's, stopping him from acting.

Kira twisted her neck around to see her friends, held hostage by the orb. Kira's eyes returned to the lever. "Good god, what have I done?" she asked. Kira then yelped in pain as the lever grew tiny syringes, which proceeded to draw blood from her hands. Once done, whatever force held Kira to the lever disappeared, and she was free. Kira wasted no more time, bolting back to the observatory.

The guns returned to the roof, and the door out re-opened for them. Kira burst back into the observatory right as an intense blue light grew from the pit below. "We need to get out of here!" Kira shouted over the shaking.

"I think I remember the way, c'mon!" Said Jack. The three raced down the halls, looking for any sign of a way out. Meanwhile, the shaking grew stronger and fiercer. Almost as if the pyramid was actually rising from the ground. Every computer in the hallways was losing its mind, numbers running erratically, some erupting sparks. Kira, Ed and Jack ignored it all as best as they could, and focused on finding the exit.

Finally, the three reached a hallway that was somewhat familiar to them. After another minute of running, the door they came in from was in view. Summoning the last of their strength, the three bounded towards the doorway and leapt through, landing on solid ground.

Kira laid on the ground with her friends, panting heavily. Once her strength was back, though, she realized something. They weren't just back on solid ground, they were back above ground. Kira forced herself to her feet, helping Ed up by letting him rest on her shoulder. "Guys…look…" she said, staring slack jawed up into the sky.

Ed shook his head to stop the world from spinning before looking where Kira was looking. Jack followed suit, and both joined Kira's silent awe.

The pyramid was rising from the ground, and was evidently a much larger structure than they thought. The pyramid's ascension shook the landscape for miles around, knocking over trees and sending webs of cracks out across the darklands.

And across the world, panic spread like wildfire.

Townsville…

"Get a damn visual on the darklands, for a visual will visualize for I, Mojo Jojo, what is causing these tremors, for these tremors come from the darklands, and thus you must get a visual on the darklands in order to solve what is causing these tremors. So says I, Mojo Jojo!" said, um, Mojo Jojo to his various simian technicians, who were scrambling to do as their master had commanded. "Well, do you have a visual?" asked Mojo-

Peach Creek…

"-We're trying, sir," Said an Urban Ranger to Double d, who was sitting at his desk in his office. "But we've lost all signal with any satellites over that area-"

Bellwood…

"-What? How?" Ben Tennyson asked a plumber scout, who had given him the report.

"Any time we try to get a visual on that particular area in the darklands, some kind of jamming field crashes our systems," said the scout.

Ben grit his teeth, looking down in thought. "So the question is-"

Genius Grove…

"-What the hell is going on out there?" Asked Dexter, who watched with reserved frustration as the computer screen that would've shown him the darklands merely continued to static.

Back with Kira…

Kira, Ed and jack had been forced to run to a safer location, as the ground beneath them had begun breaking up. Once they were safe though, they returned their attention to the Pyramid, which now towered over the darklands. The Pyramid stood silent for several minutes before it began shaking again. "Oh, here we go again," said Ed, who braced himself for another earthquake. But it never came. Instead, the top of the pyramid spread open. Then, the same low hum from inside the pyramid, except much, much louder. With the combined BOOM of ten thunderclaps, blue energy erupted from the pyramid and up into the sky, up into space. The beam ran for about ten seconds before finally dying out, leaving the pyramid open and dead.

Kira, Ed and Jack all watched silently. Finally, Kira asked. "So…think that was it?"

"If it was-" Ed said, turning his head to the south to see the lone green star in the sky that represented planet fusion. He turned back to Kira. "-you missed."

"And if it wasn't…"said jack. Who narrowed his eyes up at the sky where the beam had disappeared. "What was it?"


	6. Chapter 6

The beam of energy fired from the pyramid pierced the atmosphere and continued up into Earth's outer orbit. The beam flew until it reached about halfway to Earth's moon, where a much smaller burst of energy flew out from its mass and sped ahead of the beam. The smaller blast burst into a shimmering portal in space. The beam passed through the portal, which then closed, quietly disappearing as if it were never there to begin with.

* * *

Across the vast, infinite emptiness of space, untold lightyears from Earth, a ship silently drifted through the stars. A ship whose size would dwarf most planet's moons. If one unfamiliar with space travel and the means to attain it were to look upon this vessel, its shape and design would not invoke images of ships or planes or any sort of vehicle at all. They would see the obsidian hand of god, with a black hole in its grip.

And this ship, and the ones who inhabited it, were the beam's ultimate destination.

* * *

The bridge of this vessel was a sleepy place, as being without an actual destination (and being bigger than anything that might otherwise threaten their voyage) left the crew with very little to do. So, when the ship's sensors blared to life, half of the humanoid technicians fell out of their seats. Which caused quite a loud echoing bang, given that everyone on the ship was concealed in heavy gunmetal grey armor. Despite the obvious weight of such armor, every technician on the bridge immediately rushed to work without any trouble whatsoever. Their language was similar to that of the orb in the same way Middle English was similar to the modern variety. The technicians shouted back and forth at one another as they toiled away on their consoles. A larger holographic screen wisped to life in front of the large front window. The screen zoomed in on the same portal that appeared above Earth appearing in front of their ship. Through the portal came the beam, which flew for just a minute more before dissipating, leaving a single metal capsule floating helplessly through space.

The technicians, after exchanging more shouting, returned to their computers. The capsule was then guided to their ship by a tractor beam. Several minutes passed before one of the technicians received a notification from the men who retrieved the pod. The technician took this information and ran to the center of the bridge, where sat the captain, also clad in armor that hid all discernable features, except that his armor was pitch black and slightly more decorative in design.

The captain looked over the information given to him, looked up at the technician, and nodded. The technician returned to his post, and the captain pointed forward, silently issuing his command. The ship lurched forth, gaining speed. From the ship came the same burst of energy produced by the beam. And like before, but on a much, much larger scale, a portal opened for them. The ship passed through the gate, and disappeared.

* * *

To say that the hours following the ascension of the pyramid were _tense_ would be to compete for the biggest understatement in recorded history. While GDI forces had yet to arrive, fusions had arrive en masse, surrounding and inspecting the gigantic structure.

Kira, Ed and Jack had just barely managed to hide before the full horde had arrived, and were now watching from a nearby bush as the fusions descended on the pyramid. Over and over, fusions latched onto the pyramid's walls with intent to consume its material, but they would only slide off and gather on the ground. Whatever metal the pyramid was made from was completely resistant to fusion matter.

Something that fascinated the observing Kira.

"The fusions, they…" Kira breathed out in disbelief.

"Can't even dent it," Ed finished.

"We may not have found the Orion's Hammer, but this may still prove useful," said Jack. "For now though, we should wait until help arrives. I highly doubt that Dexter is just going to ignore this."

"Yeah," Kira said, "backup sounds really nice right now."

* * *

"No matter what we try, sire, our fusion matter simply won't bond with the material," said Fusion Untonium to a fusion emissary.

"If it cannot be fused, it must be destroyed," said Fuse through the emissary. "The humans are stubborn enough as they are. We cannot have them gaining material that is beyond our power."

Fusion Utonium gave a curt bow. "It shall be done, my lord." With that, the emissary took to the sky, leaving the fusion general to his work. Fusion Utonium turned to his horde and pointed at the pyramid. "Destroy!" he shouted. The fusions turned and fired on the pyramid, destructive fusion matter peppering the walls with acid and explosions. But the structure still refused to budge, even when Fusion Utonium joined in the blasting. After a while, he just commanded his troops to give up. "Perhaps the other fusion generals can help speed things along," he said. But his thoughts were broken a sound reached his ears. A sort of booming sound, similar to the sound barrier breaking far above their heads. Fusion Utonium looked up, and his red eyes widened in shock.

In the sky above burst to life another blue portal. But instead of the large ship from before coming through, five smaller ships zoomed through the portal and down to the pyramid below. Like large silver and blue birds, they raced across the sky, descending on the structure. Their thrusters shifted downwards, hovering the ships in the air as they surrounded the pyramid in a protective ring around its tip.

Naturally, the fusions turned their fire to the ships. But like the pyramid, the ships withstood the barrage effortlessly. And once the fusions had tired themselves out, the ships gave their reply. One turret dropped from the bottom of each ship, and from their barrels burst blue light and fire. Within minutes, the fusion horde was either scattered or dead. With the area properly cleansed, the ships lowered themselves a few feet before opening their side doors. Soldiers clad in the same armor as before leapt out of their ships and crashed down on the ground. Once everyone was on the ground, the soldiers got to work setting up a perimeter.

But the battle wasn't over yet, as Fusion Utonium leapt out from a rock he was hiding under. Tendrils burst out from his back as he let out a guttural roar and charged at the soldiers. Only to be stopped by one of them, who clamped his armors hand around the fusion's throat. The soldier said nothing, merely winding up and throwing Fusion Utonium into the sky, where one of the ships vaporized him with its guns. The soldiers returned to their work without another thought.

* * *

Kira jaw was sore from how many times it had hit the floor today, and this display only made it worse. All three were in complete shock and awe from what they had seen. In five minutes, one small battalion of soldiers had wiped out an entire fusion horde, including one of the moderately high fusion generals. And not only had they not lost a single man, but the soldiers hadn't even needed to fire a shot from the guns on their person. "Who the hell are these guys?" Kira whispered sharply to the other two.

"At a guess," said Jack. "The pyramids rightful owners."

"So, why aren't we booking it?" asked Ed.

"And alert them, are you crazy?" Kira shot back. "We need to wait for an opening before we run. We won't last ten seconds against those guns." Kira looked back out from their bush to watch the soldiers. But one of them was gone. "Oh no, where did the big guy go?"

"Which one?" asked Ed. Even the smallest one among them was built like a brick house.

But Kira got her answer when she felt the cold barrel of a rifle press against the back of her head. Kira's eyes widened in fear, but she calmly raised her hands into the air as she stood. Ed and Jack followed suit, and all three turned to face their captor.

The soldier's face was hidden by a grey visor, But Jack recognized his body language as being slightly surprised. Particularly with Kira, as the soldier, gun still trained, stepped closer to the girl and leaned into her.

Kira's breath was caught in her through as the soldier silently inspected her face. She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was focused on her red eyes. Kira's pale skin went bright red as the soldier's free hand rested on her right cheek, his thumb gently pushing down her cheek, which in turn pulled her right eyelid more open, giving him a better look at her ruby eye. His armored hand moved to her long white hair, holding up strands of it to examine it.

Just as the soldier was about to move on to the next part of his inspection, whatever it may have been, Ed bulked up his fist while he wasn't looking and slammed it into the side of his head. The soldier went flying a few feet, bouncing on the ground before smashing into a stone. Ed picked Kira up bridal style and turned to Jack. "Book it!" he shouted. He and Jack took off as fast as they could.

The soldier rose from the rubble, completely unfazed, and pulled out a smaller gun. Aiming upwards, he fired a signal flare. Immediately, one of the troop carriers, with three soldiers on board, flew after the three.

Ed and Jack bounded through the field, eventually reaching a thick forest. Kira shook her head to get her bearings before looking up at Ed. "Not that I'm ungrateful," she said. "But what the hell?"

"He was probably going to shoot you," Ed said. He also didn't like seeing that psycho put his hands all over her, but she didn't really need to hear that.

"I recognize this part of the darklands," Jack yelled back to the others from the lead. "If we can lose them, there's a town not far from here."

"Of course losing them is the operative term here," Kira said, pulling herself up to Ed's shoulder to look behind them. "And they're already gaining on us!" Above the tree line, the troop carrier effortlessly kept pace with them. Its mounted gun fired in front of their path, setting the forest ablaze in blue fire. Ed and Jack slid on the ground to stop themselves before making a hard right turn. Kira fumbled about in Ed's arms, retrieving her sniper rifle. Kira took aim, waiting for a break in the tree tops. Once she had her shot, Kira pulled the trigger, sending a shot of the same energy that cleaved through Fusion Ed's head rocketing towards the ship above. The blast merely bounced off its surface, not even leaving a dent. "Well, that's disheartening," she said.

The ship opened fire once again, using the trail of fire created by its blasts to force Ed and Jack into a nearby forest clearing. A ring of trees a mile wide, almost as if the forest anticipated the battle, and thus prepared an arena. Ed and Jack stopped, standing back to back as the soldiers caught up with them, surrounding the two with guns trained. Ed put Kira down, and she drew out her compound bow.

The soldier from before stepped to the front and pointed at Kira. Ed saw where he pointed, growled, and stepped in between them. "You want her, ugly," said Ed. "You go through me." Jack stepped forward as well, adding himself to that challenge.

The soldier didn't reply, but he did step forward, accepting the challenge. Kira, meanwhile, darted her eyes around the clearing. No openings that weren't covered by that damn ship above them. It was fight or die. So she notched an explosive arrow and prepared for the fight.

But then the soldiers stopped, then turned to look at a specific empty section of the clearing, as if expecting something. The boom from before reached Kira's ears, and she looked up. Another portal, right above them. But much smaller, too small for a ship.

Then, a tiny black dot came from the portal and, in a split second, crashed on the ground, where the soldiers were looking. The soldiers all gathered around the crater as the newcomer stepped out. It was the captain of the ship, clad in his regal black armor. The soldiers stood at attention, their left fists resting behind their lower backs, while their right fists rested on their right upper legs, then moved to their left shoulders, then finally their foreheads. A salute for their captain.

The leader walked through the crowd of his soldiers until he was face to face with Kira, Ed and Jack. He said nothing, did nothing, just stood there, staring at them through a pitch black visor. He held out his right hand and pointed down at the ground in front of him. _Kneel._

Ed growled once again, and threw off his green jacket. His red and white striped shirt stretched as his muscles bulked up in mass. "20 tons!" he shouted, readying his now engorged fists. "Someone check the clock. I think it's go time!"

"Agreed," said Jack, who drew his sword. Both men let out battle cries as they charged their opponent. The unknown captain merely watched as they neared, crossing his arms across his chest. Ed stopped short in front of him, using his momentum to launch himself into the air. Ed brought down his fist from above, while Jack swung at his head from below. The warrior simply caught Jack blade with one hand, and Ed's fist with the other. The two were thrown to either side like ragdolls, but Kira took that chance to launch an arrow at the warrior's head. The arrow crashed into the side of his helmet. While it did not pierce the metal, the impact set off the explosives contained within it. The warrior was engulfed in a fiery explosion of white phosphorus.

Kira went to notch another arrow, knowing the battle wasn't over. But when she looked back, she only saw the black armor looming above her. Kira froze in fear as the black visor stared down at her, its expression, its intentions, unknown.

Before the warrior could do anything, he was tackled to the ground by Ed. "Get away from her!" Ed clamped his fists together and transferred all of the mass to them. "35 ton piston!" Ed brought down his fists on the warrior's head, causing a shockwave as another crater was put in the ground.

From the smoke caused by the impact, Ed flew out, bouncing and grinding along the ground until he came to a full stop, unconscious. "ED!" Kira shouted, running over to him. The warrior stepped out from the cloud, dusting himself off. When he looked up, he caught a glimpse of Jack bringing his blade down on him. He managed to dodge in that brief window, but Jack's sword ran clean through the armor it did hit, slicing a chunk of the armor on his shoulder off. No blood was spilt, but his armor was now weakened. The warrior looked at the damage and let out a chuckle. He didn't have to hold back with Jack.

Jack readied his sword for the battle. _I have one minute of full power. Hopefully, that is all I will need._ Jack's heart picked up speed, his muscles bulged slightly, and veins popped out on his neck and arms. The two warriors disappeared from the naked eye, clashing at blinding speeds. For one minute, the area became akin to an active minefield, explosions happening all around Kira, who knelt down next to Ed and covered her head, to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

But the one minute ran up, and Jack had to stop, lest his heart explode in his chest. Jack scrambled for the medicine in his coat, pulling out the bottle. But the pain in his chest increased, causing him to drop the bottle. Jack reached out for it, but tripped and fell to his knees, the pain increasing.

Kira ran over to get the bottle, but the warrior made it there first. The warrior picked up the medicine bottle, inspecting it closely. He then noticed Jack writhing on the floor, gripping his chest. The warrior could not read the text on the bottle, but he knew medicine when he saw it. So he walked over to Jack, opened the bottle, and poured a handful of pills into his hands. Jack wasted no time, downing two pills and letting the rest spill on the ground. After a few moments, Jack stood up, his heart no longer about to explode. Jack gave the warrior a questioning stare. The warrior merely stood there with crossed arms, waiting for the fight to continue. Jack picked up his sword and bowed to the warrior, who simply shrugged his shoulders in a gesture of "think nothing of it".

Kira watched in disbelief as the two prepared to fight once more. But then she noticed something. There was a crack in the side of the warrior's helmet. Small, but deep, thus vulnerable. Kira sheathed the arrow she was going to use, and, though hesitant, pulled out another one. _I guess this would count as an emergency,_ she thought to herself as she notched the arrow. She aimed at the warrior's head, right at the weak point. "Suck Omega Arrow, chump." Kira released the arrow, sending it flying right into the warrior's helmet. The arrow pierced the crack all the way through, causing a web of cracks to spread across the helmet. Then, the omega arrow exploded. The force of the blast sent Kira and Jack flying back several feet. The explosion gathered in a small mushroom cloud that towered over the forest.

Kira pulled herself out of the dirt, coughing up a storm as she forced herself to her knees. Kira panted heavily, staring at the ground below. Then, a sharp pain in the back of her neck. Then nothing.

The warrior picked Kira up by the back of her shirt, and turned back to Jack, who had just forced himself to his feet. The warrior's visor was cracked beyond repair, only held together by the rest of the helmet. The warrior himself, however, seemed no worse for wear as he gestured to the unconscious Kira, giving Jack an ultimatum.

Jack glared daggers at the warrior, but his eyes also darted to the side, seeing the other soldiers moving in to retrieve Ed. Jack looked back at the warrior and sighed. He had lost. So Jack sheathed his sword, sat down on his knees, and rested his sheathed sword across his thighs, surrendering.

The soldiers promptly cuffed Jack's hands behind his back and laid Ed down next to him. The warrior walked up and laid Kira down on the opposite side. All three of them were cuffed. The cuffs then lifted into the air, pulling them up into the troop carrier. Jack looked down at the warrior, who was removing his broken visor. Once removed, the glass fell into hundreds of tiny pieces, and the warrior looked back up at Jack. Jack's eyes narrowed, for it wasn't just the familiarity of the warrior's ruby red eyes that put him off.

It was that his eyes were those of a man who knew only war…


	7. Chapter 7

Ever since receiving the omnitrix, Ben Tennyson had seen many battlefields. So when he and a small battalion of plumbers arrived in the darklands to inspect what had caused the earlier tremors, Ben wasn't entirely shocked by what he saw. A decimated forest filled with fire and shoulder deep craters in the ground was sadly very commonplace, especially where fusions and heroes were involved.

However, what did perplex Ben was the lack of any traces of fusion matter at the clearing where the most fighting had obviously taken place. All the signs of heroes coming to blows with a fusion horde, except for the most damning evidence of fusion activity. In fact, Ben could only find two pieces of evidence that heroes were involved; a few dozen scattered heart pills, and Ed's green windbreaker.

Ben held up the jacket, brow furrowed as he inspected it. The windbreaker was slightly singed at the edges, and was caked in dirt and dust. Thankfully, though, there was no sign of blood on the garment, thus retaining a sliver of hope for the rookie hero's survival. Ben folded up and handed the windbreaker to a plumber. "Get this back to the ship, and use the computer to issue an M.I.A on Edward Alba, Kira Niste, and Samurai Jack," he said.

"Yes sir, right away," said the plumber, who ran back to the ship.

Ben turned back around to inspect the rest of the battlefield, but instead found himself facing yet another plumber, who stopped in front of him, panting heavily. "S-sir," he said, getting back his breath. "We uh, we believe to have found the source of the earlier quakes."

"And?" asked Ben, who helped the soldier stand up straight.

"It, uh, would be easier to show you." The plumber gestured to the way he came from, and Ben followed him to the site.

Ben stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening in sheer awe at what was before him.

A half-mile deep crater the size of four football fields. "What the hell…?" Ben asked no one in particular.

"From what we can gather, sir," said the plumber. "The shape of the crater suggests that something had risen out to shape the hole the way it did. However, whatever had done so has either been removed, or so thoroughly destroyed that not a trace of it remains."

Ben couldn't respond. His mind raced for something to say and came up with nothing. Was it a new fusion weapon? Was a villain testing out a new experiment behind their backs? Either way, he needed help on this. Ben turned back around to the plumber. "Contact the other guides," he said. "Now!"

* * *

 _"And that makes 5 points! You win again, Kira!" said Evelyn Niste, who grabbed Kira's 5 year old hands as the toddler jumped for joy. "You are the queen of horseshoes!"_

 _Kira could only laugh as her mother lifted her into the air and spun her around. This was her home; Haven Heights. Quiet, serene, boring, and utterly perfect for a little girl in no way aware of the chaos of the world outside. It was just her, her mommy and her daddy. This "war" thingy the other grownups kept talking about wasn't real, they were just being stupid, as grownups tended to be._

 _The laughter was broken, however, when mommy winced in pain, placing Kira down as gently as she could. Evelyn fell onto her butt, grabbing her right leg as she bit down a curse. Kira ran up to her mommy's side. "Your leg again?" she asked._

 _Evelyn turned to Kira, forcing on a smile for her little girl as she pulled up her pant leg to inspect the prosthetic limb beneath. "Just some pain, don't worry," she said. "Could you runt to the garage and get mommy the crescent wrench?"_

 _Kira nodded fiercely, running as fast as she could into and through the house. Since these pains happened to mommy a lot, the wrenches they used to make the pain go away were just left out on a work bench. Kira grabbed the wrench and scampered back to her mom. But when she got back to the backyard, she saw her daddy, home early from his job, helping mommy up into his arms. "What do you mean they're coming?" she heard mommy ask._

 _"I mean they're coming," daddy said, sounding awfully scared. Which scared Kira, because if her daddy was scared of something, she knew it was something to be afraid of. "We have to get Kira and get out of here, now!"_

 _"Daddy?" Kira asked, stepping out from behind the door. "What's going on?"_

 _Her daddy rushed up to her, still carrying mommy in his arms. "Kira, I'll explain in the car. I need you to take the wrench to the car and sit and wait for mommy and daddy, okay?"_

 _Kira wanted to argue, demand to know what was happening. But her daddy had his most serious face on, so she knew better. "Okay daddy," she said. She had just gotten back into the doorway when a sound like thunder vibrated past her ears. Kira turned around to look at what caused the sound, but only saw the fabric of her parent's shirts as they tackled her. Then, a white hot pain all across her body. Then, silence._

 _Kira awoke, dragging herself out from whatever was on top of her. Her eyes were watery from the smoke, her clothes torn to tatters, and her hair completely singed off of her head. Only when her eyes had stopped burning in their sockets, did she realize that the two pitch black objects that were on top of her were once her mommy and daddy, and that the sheer nothingness around her was once Haven Heights._

 _Kira stared dead-eyed up into the blackened sky, unable to even bring herself to scream…_

* * *

"Kira! Kira!" The shouting echoing through her ears from outside her mind awoke Kira with a sharp gasp. Kira shot up, her head darting around in panic. She tried moving more, but winced in pain when her wrists met resistance. Kira craned her neck back, seeing cuffs around her wrists, which were connected to the practically shining white wall behind her bed by a thin blue line of energy.

"What the-?" Kira asked no one in particular. Then the memories came rushing back, hitting her like a tidal wave. _Oh yeah,_ she thought to herself, _we got our asses kicked._

"Kira!" Came the same shouting from before. Kira turned her head to her right to find Ed, his wrists chained to the wall above his head like her, except that he did not have a bed. To his left was Jack, also chained, but his were much longer than Ed's, allowing Jack to calmly meditate on the ground. Ed's shoulders slumped in relief. "You're okay…" he sighed.

Kira's panic subsided, her head dropping forward to let out a tired groan. "Not for lack of trying on our new friends' parts," she said, rubbing her eyes with her right hand. Kira's eyes shot back open, seeing that her arms, while still cuffed, were now able to move more freely then before. Kira pulled her arm out further, testing the limit of the line. There didn't seem to be one, and Kira got up from the bed and walked over to her friends, the line stretching to give her necessary slack. Kira walked up to Ed and put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay, tiny?"

Ed smiled softly down at Kira. "Well, my pride is a bit wounded, but I'm used to that," he said with a small chuckle. Then, with a small buzzing sound, his hands dropped down to his side. Still cuffed, but now free to move around. Ed looked down at his freed hands. "Wait, what?" he asked.

"It would seem these cuffs react to our level of anxiety," said Jack, without even opening his eyes. "Kira, the cuffs kept you restrained while you panicked, and while you were asleep, Ed lashed out at one of the guards who brought us food. Thus, the cuffs restrain you to the wall until you calm down."

Kira looked down at her cuffs, lightly tugging on one. "Lovely," she muttered. Kira looked back at Ed, finally noticing what was around his neck. It was a metal collar, with only one tiny red light at the front. "Ed, did they put this on you?" she asked.

"Not just me," Ed said, lightly touching Kira's neck, bringing her attention to the same collar around her neck. Kira looked at Jack, seeing yet another collar on him.

Kira touched the collar herself. "I hadn't even noticed it," she said. Kira then looked back at her friends, worry breaking out all over her face. "So, what happens now?"

"Now," said Jack. "We wait and see what they do with us."

* * *

Of course, the cell the three were trapped in was under heavy and constant surveillance. Tiny cameras hidden in the walls watched their every move like scientists watching rats in a box. And on the other end of these cameras, in a nearby viewing room, the warrior in black, now without his helmet, watched them from over the shoulder of one of his technicians. The warrior's ruby red eyes focused on Kira, watching her with a mix of confusion and intrigue. A tap on his shoulder brought the warrior's attention to another technician, who presented him with a small computer chip. The warrior took the chip and inserted it into a small console on the right gauntlet on his armor. Three button presses later, the warrior opened his mouth, and perfect English poured out. "So many years of gathering dust on a shelf, yet those collars still work like a charm," he said. His voice could best be described as Keith David if he were on testosterone pills.

"We're having the same data synched up to the vocal implants of every armor on the ship," said the technician. "Everyone here should know our prisoners' language inside and out within the hour"

"Excellent," said the warrior. "I will go speak with our guests of honor. They owe us some answers." With that, he turned and walked out of the viewing room.

* * *

Kira spent the next hour sitting against the wall between her two friends. Her knees were brought up to her chest, and somewhere along the way, her head had fallen on Ed's shoulder. Not that either of them noticed, being so utterly bored. Ed was fast asleep, his snores echoed through the small cell. This, of course, kept Kira from falling asleep herself. Bless his soul, but Ed slept like a neutered humpback whale.

Just as Kira had finished bleaching that mental image from her brain, the door to their cell opened, and the warrior walked in, stopping just two steps out of the doorway and placing his hands behind his back. Kira quickly shook Ed awake, and the three sprung to their feet. The warrior chuckled, his red eyes drifting between the three. "Slept well, I take it?" he asked.

"So it does talk," Kira grunted, her fists brought up, ready to fight. Kira took this time to get a good look at the warrior's face, now that she could see it. Firstly, he was completely bald, having no hair on his head or his face. Most likely shaved off to accommodate the helmet from earlier. The color of his eyes, while off putting, didn't bother Kira too much. The eyes themselves, however, almost made Kira freeze in place. His gaze carried with it the gravity of an experienced veteran, but the confidence of a younger man. One look at those ruby eyes told Kira that even if they weren't captured, he wouldn't be intimidated by them in the least.

He smiled, scarred lips opening to reveal pearly whites. "Of course," he said. "Apologies for the silent treatment earlier. Until the translator collars were placed on you, no one here knew anything about your language."

Kira's hand ghosted over her collar, _So that's what these are._ Kira's eyes narrowed at her captor. "Who are you, and what do you want from us?" she growled.

He shrugged. "Now I suppose that is fair, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "My name is Abelardus, and I am the captain of this ship, The Heaven's Lament, on which you have been brought as our very special guests. As for what I want from you, it's quite simple. I want answers."

Though Kira and Ed were confused, Jack sighed. "About the pyramid," he said.

Abelardus nodded. "You catch on quick, old soldier," he said. "That "pyramid" as you call it, was a distress beacon, built over a millennia ago by my people. In your language, we are known as the Terrans. The beacon was programmed to only activate when it recognized Terran DNA. So I believe the pressing question is obvious…"

"How did I activate the beacon?" Kira finished, looking down at the hand that had opened the pyramid's doors.

Abelardus nodded toward Kira. "How indeed," he said. "Ms. Kira, I believe? I would like to ask you and your friends some more questions. In private. So if you would please come with me…" Abelardus took half a step forward, holding up a hand for Kira. But Ed stepped in between the two, glaring at Abelardus. Abelardus rolled his eyes. "Did our last confrontation not paint a clear enough picture of where this is going to go?" he asked.

Ed growled. "You. Aren't. Touching. Her," he said through gritted teeth.

Abelardus raised an eyebrow, thoroughly unimpressed. "Oh would you quit your lovesick whining?"

"I'm an Alba. Alba's don't whine-"Ed leapt at Abelardus, arms aimed at his throat. "-They roar!" Abelardus didn't even flinch as Ed flew towards him. Just as Ed was within inches of his target, the cuffs around his wrists violently pulled back, sending Ed back into the wall.

"Some roar," scoffed Abelardus. "You'll find that your powers have been completely negated by your cuffs. These cells were designed to hold Terrans, my boy. And as you've seen, we are no slouches." Abelardus returned his attention to Kira. "So, have I convinced you to come quietly yet?" Abelardus held his hand back up for Kira. Kira glared at Abelardus, but sighed and took his hand. Abelardus gave a curt smile, leading Kira to the door out of the cell.

"Kira!" shouted Ed.

Kira looked back at Ed, forcing on a smile. "Don't worry, I've gotten out of worse than this," she said. "Just cool your jets, and please don't give them reason to kill you."

"I'd listen to her," said Abelardus as he opened the cell door. "The cell you're in? We call it the Long Goodbye. You cause enough trouble, and we eject this cell out into space." Abelardus lead Kira out of the cell, and the door closed behind them.

Ed's cuffs slacked again, and Ed was dropped back on the ground. Ed growled and slammed his fist into the wall, hurting him more than the wall. "Kira is right, Ed," said Jack, who returned to his meditative stance. "We cannot risk confrontation on this ship. We would not survive." Ed's shoulders slumped and he placed his forehead on the wall. "She'll be alright, Ed, I'm sure of it."

"She'd better," Ed growled. If she returned with one hair out of place, he'd tear this stupid ship to pieces.

This war had taken everything else from him. It wasn't going to have her as well.

* * *

Kira felt like she was in a noir. Sitting quietly in a dimly lit room, occupied only by a small table and two chairs. About to be interrogated for a crime she apparently committed. Only instead of Bogart, she got psycho alien Spartans.

Lucky her.

Kira distracted herself from her panicking thoughts by focusing on her twiddling thumbs. It wasn't even the interrogation that had her riled up, but what conclusion her captors may end up coming to. This "Abelardus" made it clear that only a Terran could activate the pyramid, so what did that mean for her? Was she somehow a Terran? How was that possible, and what would the other Terrans do with her if that was the case?

The sliding door creaked open, snapping Kira back to reality. Kira looked up to see Abelardus standing on the other side of the table. He sat down, clasped his hands together, and looked her dead in the eyes. "Who are you?" he asked.

"W-wha…?" Kira sputtered.

"Tell me who you are. Start at the beginning, and when you get to right now, stop. Leave nothing out. Even the slightest detail may be important."

Kira fidgeted in her seat. "Abelardus, was it?" she asked. "Do…do you think I may be a…"

"That's what we're here to find out." Abelardus gestured for Kira to continue, keeping his intent stare locked on her.

Kira's lips folded inwards as she felt herself freeze under his stare. Finally, though, Kira sighed, her shoulders sagged, and her head dropped. "Alright, you win," she said. Kira looked back up at Abelardus and laid her folded arms on the table. "I'll tell you my story."


	8. Chapter 8

**We're BAAAAAAAACK! Good god did this take a while. I don't even have an excuse, so let's not waste time coming up with one! Welcome back!**

My parents were wiped out by a fusion general when I was five years old. No one knows which general did it, but whoever it was wasted no time assimilating what was once my city into the darklands. I was left alone, helplessly wandering the burning wreckage that was once a suburb that I called home. I still remember the smoke that would constantly fill my lungs, how my feet would scar when I stepped on a still hot piece of metal, how the week I spent wandering that twisted ruin was spent without a wink of sleep, out of fear that I wouldn't be able to reopen my eyes. Then, a week later, it was over, I was found. My parents used to work for a mercenary company, and they'd finally reached the ruins of haven heights to look for survivors. That's where they found me, my naked and burnt body huddled in a corner.

The company, known as the Valkyries, operated near a place called Peach Creek Commons. So, they left me in an orphanage there. Oh, they would visit constantly, but they felt I would be safest away from their work. Not realizing, of course, that even back then, at the young age of 5, I wanted nothing more than to pick up one of those guns twice my size, run out there, and ram it into Fuse's smug mouth and pull the trigger until it went "click". Problem child was the nicest thing they called me; I was angry, I was bitter, and I was determined to keep on being so until either my mom and dad came back, or someone gave me Fuse.

And then, I met Ed…

* * *

 _"Kira, even if your hair grows back, it won't be the same color as before," said Professor Utonium, who received no response from the bald-headed little girl on the bed, curled up in a ball facing away from him. "I just felt you deserved to know." Utonium stared from his chair seated next to Kira's bed. As quietly as he could, he held out his hand to the little girl to give her any form of physical comfort. But Kira just inched further away, almost halfway off the edge of her bed. "Kira, I can only imagine how hard this must be for you, but I promise, we're doing everything we can." Utonium stood from his chair and walked to the door. "If you need anything, we're right outside." He would've finished that with "okay?" but he knew he wouldn't get a response. So, he quietly left and closed the door behind him._

 _Kira didn't move from her spot. Another day, another round of bad news. No one here cared about her, not one bit. If they did, why hadn't they given her her mommy and daddy back? They couldn't be dead, there was just no way._

 _Kira broke from her spiraling thoughts when an odd sound came from her window. It was…a tapping. Like a finger. A finger was tapping on the window above her bed. Kira sat up, straightened her white bed gown and crawled up to her window. Kira then came face to face with a boy. He looked about her age, with lightly yellow tinted skin, and a smear of dirt on his dimpled left cheek. A bushy black unibrow hung above wide green eyes and an ear to ear grin. "Hello," said the boy. "My name is Ed. What's yours?" Kira deadpanned, reached to her left, and lowered the blinds on the silly boy. "Aw, okay," she heard him say. "I'll come back tomorrow, and we can play then, k?" Kira didn't bother answering, and after a few seconds, she heard him run off._

 _She didn't have time for these stupid people. She just wanted to go home. Hopefully, the stupid boy wouldn't come back…_

* * *

Yeah, it didn't take long for bitterness to turn into denial. I convinced myself that mom and dad were alive, but for some reason that wasn't important, these people were keeping us apart. Fortunately, the "stupid boy" did come back. Often. For the first few weeks, I tried ignoring him. Unfortunately for me, I was a little girl at the time, so I eventually _needed_ to interact with someone, anyone. And dolls were no longer cutting it as conversationalists. So began my friendship with Edward Alba.

* * *

 _Getting switched in the butt was punishment enough, as far as Kira was concerned, why did the nuns also feel the need to make her sit on her sore butt for an hour, staring at a wall? But, here she was again, for the 4_ _th_ _time this week. By now, Kira had grown a strange sort of camaraderie with the wall. She'd made a habit of carving in a tally on the wall for every time Mother Tamara put her here. She was almost at 30 times by now!_

 _Thank goodness she had Ed. Having a wall as a best friend would be significantly less fun. "Kira," said Mother Tamara, who leaned in through the cracked open door. "You can leave now, and Ed's here to see you."_

 _Speak of the devil, as the nuns liked to keep saying. Kira hopped down from her chair and sped out of the room past Mother Tamara._

 _Kira threw open the doors to the orphanage, seeing Ed waiting for her with his giant grin at the bottom of the white stone steps. Kira ran down the steps to join her friend, and the two ran off together towards the cul-de-sac._

* * *

Ed and I had some good years together. We're still technically friends, but not nearly as close as we used to be…Anyway, while I was still angry about my parents, his friendship helped me cool off. However, that anger still wouldn't go away. I was convinced that I was the only one who deserved revenge. He killed my mom, my dad, so I deserved to blast Fuse's green face into the next century.

Then I learned the hard way that I wasn't the only one hurting…

* * *

 _The fortress walls that would soon tower around the cul-de-sac were only about halfway completed, thus the doors had yet to be installed. So the crude wooden gate doors were under constant heavy guard, even as the gloomy grey skies and increasing winds called for an intense thunderstorm. As it would be some time before the Urban Rangers had a more readily available militia, strike teams were only sent out when their intervention was absolutely required._

 _Now was one such time. A terrafuser had been established in the nearby abandoned construction site, so a small demolition team had been sent out to eliminate it. Ed's father was among the soldiers sent on this mission, and no word had come back on the progress of the mission. Kira, Eddy and Double d had done their best to reassure him, but Ed wasn't convinced. So, he tried to keep his mind off of it with training. As it turned out, just one year prior, Ed began to show signs of superhuman powers. While he had always been inhumanely strong for his age, he was now able to, with enough concentration, add on to the body mass of one of his limbs. As such, his parents arranged for the GDI to assign him a mentor._

 _Her methods were…abrasive._

 _"Again," ordered Garnet, who crossed her arms as Ed forced himself to his feet._

 _"You can do it, monobrow!" Shouted Eddy from the bleachers, where Kira and Double d sat next to him. Kira scratched at her itchy head, which had by then begun to sprout clumps of white hair. She looked up, noticing the clouds gathering in the sky above. It was going to rain soon._

 _Kira called out to the two below. "It's gonna rain pretty soon, maybe we can do this tomorrow?" she asked._

 _Garnet looked up at Kira, placing a large hand on her hips. "A little rain shouldn't get in the way of training," she said._

 _"But-" Kira tried to get out before being interrupted._

 _"I'm fine Kira, don't worry," Ed called out to her with his usual dumb grin._

 _Kira sat back down and pouted. Eddy chuckled. "Stubborn piece of work, ain't he?" Eddy asked with his crooked smirk._

 _The teen girl rolled her eyes. "Been that way ever since we met," she grumbled._

 _"Well you two have always had that in common," Said Double d with a matter-of-fact smile and a cross of his arms._

 _Before long, occasional droplets of rain turned into constant downpours. Even Garnet eventually relented and let Ed join his friends at his house._

 _Ed's house, like every home in peach creek, was a one story suburban home fortified with barred windows and an outer shell of scrap and junk. The inside was a cluttered mess of dirt, broken furniture, and poorly hidden weapons. While a personal generator out back ensured that the house had electricity, the generator in question was an old hunk of scrap that needed tuning every 5 hours._

 _Regardless, it was a warm place. Especially for Kira, who was always reminded of home whenever she stayed over. Like every night, she and the eds watched as much t.v as they could before turning it off to conserve power. They would then either play board games or listen to Eddy's latest scheme._

 _"So, your dad's out, huh?" asked Kira, who absentmindedly threw corn chips into her mouth while lying on the living room rug._

 _"Yeah," Ed replied with a carefree smile on the top of the couch. "He's gone to kick some butt, it's gonna be awesome!" Ed pumped his fists up in the air, causing him to lose balance and fall on the couch seat and then on the floor, flat on his face._

 _"You okay Ed?" asked Eddy._

 _"Yep."_

 _"Good." All three kids erupted into laughter. The laughter stopped, however, when the rumblings of truck tires echoed through the house._

 _Ed looked up and beamed. "He's home!" Ed shouted, bolting out the door. The rain was now coming down in torrents, soaking into the house from the open doorway._

 _"Ed, wait for us!" Kira shouted after him as she, double d and Eddy ran out to catch up with him. The cold rain soaked Kira's mostly bald head, the clumps of white hair clung to her scalp, and her clothes were soon dripping wet. But Kira couldn't feel the rain, or the freezing cold. She, like Ed in front of her, had gone completely numb._

 _A truck had indeed come into peach creek commons, carrying the remaining soldiers from the attack. The men and women were in various states of injury. Those who were less fortunate barely even had bodies left to bury._

 _And there was Ed, on his knees, hunched over a small box labeled "remains: Cpl. Alba"._

* * *

At first, it was almost impossible to wrap my head around it. I had spent so long drowning in my need for revenge, I never…I never even considered that others were in just as much pain. I didn't even know what to say to him for the first few weeks. After a few years, I decided I just needed to get out of there. I couldn't hold it in any longer, I NEEDED to strike back at Fuse. So, as soon as I received my acceptance into the G.D.I Military Academy, I packed my things, said my goodbyes and left, forcing myself to not look back.

It didn't go well.

* * *

 _Another day, another fight._

 _Kira was having a hard time keeping track of the reasons at this point. Especially when her opponent this week slammed her down back first on a cafeteria table and slid her all the way down like she was a thug in an 80's bar fight scene. When she reached the end of the table, Kira grabbed onto the edge of the table and used the momentum to launch herself up into a backflip. Kira landed on the tile floor, dukes up and ready for more. A small crowd of recruits had gathered around the two to watch Niste go at it once again._

 _Her opponent, a Latina recruit that stood head and shoulders above her, cracked her knuckles as she approached. "I'm getting really sick of your trash talk, Niste," she growled._

 _Kira chuckled. "Tell you what, Santiago," she said. "I'll stop trash talking, if you stop giving me free material." Santiago growled at Kira, and the two ran towards each other to continue the fight. However, both stopped dead in their tracks when a gunshot rang out from behind the crowd. Everyone turned around to see Agent Six and Bobo. Six had one of Bobo's blasters aimed up into the air, its barrel smoking from the blast. Six promptly returned the blaster to Bobo, who walked away with a roll of his eyes._

 _"Alright girls," Six said in his usual firm monotone. "Who wants to point their fingers at the other first?"_

 _Santiago stood at attention. "Sir, I-" she started._

 _"Actually, I don't have the patience, so I'll stop you both right there," Six interrupted as he walked up to them. "Just two months you two have been here, and I'm already fed up. I'd compare getting either of you to fall in line to herding cats, but that would be an insult to cats. So, who do I have to thank this wee-"_

 _"Me, sir," Said Kira. "I…it was me."_

 _Six turned to face Kira head on, leaving Santiago to stare at Kira with restrained shock. Because of his glasses covering up his eyes at all times, Kira couldn't quite make out his emotion as he regarded her. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" he asked. Six sighed. "Niste, you have such potential, but if any of these people are going to trust you on the battlefield, you need to get your pride in check." Six turned away from her and walked away. "Don't come back until that changes."_

 _She was expelled. He didn't need to say it. She didn't look at Santiago as she turned to leave for the barracks. She needed to pack._

* * *

Between my expulsion from the G.D.I and my cold departure from Peach Creek, I was kinda at a loss for where to go next. Then I remembered my parents old merc company; the Valkyries. When I looked them up, I found that since I left, Eddy had taken command of Peach Creek and turned it into an economic trade hub, with the Valkyries, among other merc companies, working for him.

I wasn't sure if they'd take me back as a friend, but I had enough confidence in my skills to know they'd at least accept me as another hired gun. Sure enough, Eddy accepted me back with open arms, though it's still unclear for which of the two reasons.

And that's basically how I spent my life the following two years. Blast a fusion here, go out for drinks there, and drift from one day to the next when I wasn't doing the above. It was tedious, but it was fulfilling. Then Eddy approached me with the job that started this whole mess; guard some rich asshole while he looked for some ancient thingamajig. Well, you know we found it, you wouldn't be here otherwise.

And that's my life, or at least the most important bits from what I remember about it. So all that's left is the pressing question on my end: that pyramid responded to my actions like I was meant to find it.

So, Abelardus, what does that tell you?


	9. Chapter 9

**BET YOU THOUGHT YOU'D SEEN THE LAST OF ME, EH? Well, too bad you infinitely respawning reasons why I'm likely to become an alcoholic in a few years! Fusionfall is back and it is here to stay! And with classes nearly completed, I am gonna have WAY more free time than ever before…until I get a job, but semantics. Onto the show!**

After being made to recite the majority of her life, Kira rubbed the sleep from her eyes before looking back up at Abelardus. He had yet to answer the question she posed to him, which she believed rather pressing; was she or was she not somehow part of an ancient race of space Spartans?

Abelardus was asleep. And judging by the drool, he fell asleep some time ago.

Kira went deadpan. "I'm sorry, am I boring you?" she asked through gritted teeth.

Abelardus awoke with a snort. "Huh? Whozzat?" he mumbled. After a good shake of his head, he remembered where he was. Abelardus wiped the drool from his mouth. "Sorry, that felt way longer than it should have."

Kira pounded her fist on the metal table. "Look, numbnuts, am I a Terra-whatever, or not? Because I think that's information I need to be made aware of!"

Abelardus didn't react, merely watching her finish her tantrum with a bored expression. "Kira," he said, clasping his hands together on the table. "To be honest, I'm not sure. There's not much in your story to go on."

"Then why keep me here?"

Abelardus leaned forward. "Why did you activate that beacon? What were you so interested in?"

Kira sat back in her seat, but kept her eyes on Abelardus. "Some old fabled weapon. The Orion's Hammer." The table flew across the room and Abelardus lifted Kira up by her shirt collar to look directly into her ruby red eyes.

"How. Do you. Know that name?" Abelardus growled. His presence alone threatened to suffocate Kira. All casualty from mere seconds ago had dissipated. Abelardus had returned to the frightening beast that had dominated them back on Earth. Kira was trembling in his grip.

"T-that's the artifact the rich asshole wanted to find. I-it's supposed to be on Earth somewhere."

Abelardus tossed Kira to the ground and activated the comm device on his wrist. He returned to his Terran tongue to speak to the person on the other end. Kira sat up to look up at Abelardus, but he merely glared down at her, silently ordering her to stay down.

The door opened, and in walked another terran. This one was visibly younger than Abelardus, and sported a mop of reddish orange hair. His armor was lighter than the armor she had seen on Earth, and covered in pockets filled with tools. "Novis," Abelardus said, returning to English. "Escort Kira back to her cell. I must speak with the commanders."

Novis saluted Abelardus; left fist behind back, right fist on thigh, then chest, then forehead. "Yes, my king," he said. Novis walked over to Kira and pulled her to her feet as gently as he could. "Please, right this way."

Kira could only nod, and Novis led her out of the room. The door closed behind them right as a crash echoed from the room into the hallway. Kira and Novis looked back, shocked. "Ancestors preserve me…" Novis mumbled under his breath. "I've never seen him this angry. What did you say to him?"

"I just answered his questions," Kira said as Novis hurried her along the hall. "You ever hear of the Orion's Hammer?"

Novis, though still walking with her, grew silent and still. Kira turned to Novis. "That a yes?" She asked.

"Little one, I won't lie to you," Novis said. "You're in a lot of trouble."

* * *

"Kira!" Ed shouted as Kira was led back into the cell.

Once over the blue line at the entrance of the cell, the bright blue energy from before shot out of Kira's cuffs and reattached themselves to the wall. Novis stepped back to the doorway. "Look, just stay here until we're ready for you. Hopefully we…we'll figure this all out." With that, Novis shut the cell door behind him and walked away.

"Kira, are you alright?" asked Jack as he and Ed helped Kira to the bed. Once seated, Kira ran her hands through her bone white hair.

"Yeah, I…I'm fine, I'm fine. How are you?" Kira asked, putting on a smile.

Ed shrugged. "Eh, a bit hungry, but otherwise I can't complain." Jack elbowed Ed in the arm. "Sorry. Kira, what did they do to you?"

"Nothing," Kira replied. She went on to explain her experience with Abelardus, including his outburst at her mention of the Orion's Hammer. "Then he had the one guy on this tugboat who's been nice to me throw me back in here. And here we are."

The door opened. "Ah, yes, that was Novis. Nice man, bit immature, rather endearing I must say." The voice was cool as a glacier and moved at rapid fire pace. Kira, Ed and Jack all turned around to see, standing in the doorway, yet another Terran. This one was like what would happen if a snake rapidly grew arms and legs, put on a suit of light metal armor, then painted it every garish color of the eye sore rainbow for the hell of it. His hair, like shredded metal, was combed backward and neatly cut.

Kira stood up from the bed and glared at the newcomer. " _What now_?" She growled.

The Terran held up his hands defensively. "I understand your hostility. Rest assured, Lord Abelardus has…calmed. I am his assistant, Ventus, I came to fetch all three of you. Lord Abelardus would like to have a word regarding the Orion's Hammer."

"He gonna keep his hands to himself?" Kira asked, arms crossed.

Ventus gave a curt bow to Kira. "I will see to it personally."

Kira smirked. "Oh now you decide to play nice. Alright, c'mon boys."

"Wait, you're serious?" asked Ed.

"We don't have much of a choice," Jack said, shrugging.

Ed's head and shoulders slumped, followed by a groan. "Fine, but if he starts talking about wanting a better view of Venus, I'm gonna say I told you so."

"Well," said Kira, who walked past Ventus. "You heard the man, lead the way."

Ventus led the three out of their cells and down the halls of the ship. Along the way, Kira was given the ol'side-eye by every Terran they passed. Some were in armor, patrolling up and down the halls, whereas most were dressed in more casual attire. Men and women, all Amazonian in size and stature went about their day around them. Kira finally decided to ask. "So, you guys all look—"

"Like your species, yes," Ventus interrupted. "We have some theories on that, but nothing concrete yet."

"Lovely," Kira murmured. Then another Terran approached. The armor was identical to the others, but Kira recognized the dent in the side of their helmet. The soldier Ed punched. The soldier stopped right in front of Kira and looked down at her. Then, off came the helmet, revealing an older woman with platinum blonde hair. She smiled down at Kira. "Hello little sister in arms," she said in that warm molasses voice reserved only for grandmothers and Jo Wyatt.

Kira chuckled nervously. "Um, hi," she said. "Sorry about earlier."

"No need my dear, your friend barely scratched me. My name is Mora, by the way." Mora shook Kira's hand heartily. Kira could only manage a nervous smile.

Ventus patted Mora on the shoulder. "Alright, we're all introduced, Mora. Now, if you would?" Ventus gestures to the side, and Mora saluted her superior. She gave one last wink to Kira. "Don't worry about Abelardus, he blusters, but he's harmless."

Kira's smile loosened. "Thanks." Mora passed them and continued on her way. Kira looked back at Ventus. "Sister in arms? So, are we calling this little theory of your boss's a solid yes already? Because he just said he had no god damn clue."

"It's mixed," Ventus replied. "Some believe it, some don't. Although, Mora has seen more battle than most of the veterans on this ship, let alone the young bloods. And if I know anything about her after all these years-" Ventus stopped in front of a large circular door. Onyx black with glowing blue veins running along it. Ventus looked back at Kira. "—it's that she knows a Terran when she sees one." Ventus laid his hand on the door. The door opened with a soft _fwoosh_. Ventus stepped out of the way of the door and gestured inside for Kira. The three tentatively entered, the door fwooshing closed behind them.

It was completely pitch black, no light whatsoever. Ed jumped with a "Yipe!" when a bolt of purplish-blue lightning raced across a window on the other side of the room with a deafening boom. Silhouetted against the window was Abelardus, who was merely watching the storm. The light from the flash died down, shrouding him in shadow again. Then, a small circle of lights came up from underneath him, illuminating him as well as the window. He still did not turn to face Kira. Ed stepped closer to Kira, while Jack clenched a fist. "The Orion's Hammer…" he said. "A name I never wanted to hear again. A weapon so devastating, that even our proud warrior race could not bring ourselves to use what we had created."

Kira crossed her arms. "Then why make it at all?"

Abelardus chuckled humorlessly. "A bad enough war makes anything seem like a good idea if it means your family gets to stay alive." Abelardus looked back up at the storm raging outside. "Do you know where we are? From what I gather from your species' satellites, at least the ones we hacked into, we are in the largest storm on the planet of Jupiter." Kira, Ed, and Jack's eyes all went dinner plate wide.

"J-Jupiter?" Kira stuttered.

"Impossible," said Jack. "The pressure alone should crush this ship into dust."

"You'll find the Heaven's Lament is made of sturdier stuff." Abelardus turned, finally, to face Kira. "It is a sufficient hiding place, until such time as we will need to reveal ourselves."

"Which will be…?" Kira asked.

"Right now, if you refuse my offer." Abelardus walked up to Kira, the lights on the floor followed him, illuminating his path. He stopped directly in front of her. "Through your satellites, we have seen your world. Your war. Finding the Orion's Hammer in your world's current state would be hampered with endless distractions and obstacles if we were to come down and do it ourselves. So my offer is this: Find me the Orion's Hammer in one month, or my people will come down and do it our way."

"A **month**?!" Kira shouted. "There's no way I can find that thing in a month!"

"Why? You found the beacon in one day. You know your planet better than anyone on this ship, so if anyone can, it's you." Abelardus placed his hands on Kira's shoulders. "And when you do find it, you **will** destroy it."

"After I destroy planet fusion, sure thing," Kira said with a shrug. Abelardus' grip tightened.

"No. You will find it, you will destroy it. Or you will be destroyed _with_ it." He glared right into Kira's eyes. A furious storm of emotion radiated from his gaze. "I will _not_ see that weapon activated ever again. I care not for your reasons, it is too powerful to risk temptation. You will destroy it, understand?"

Kira clenched her fist to the point of drawing blood. Every fiber of her wanted to argue, to scream and shout. Instead, she lied. "Fine."

Abelardus released her, but kept his glare. "Good girl," he muttered. "And to ensure your success and loyalty…" Abelardus pressed a button on his gauntlet. Kira and the boys flinched at a poke in the back of their heads. The pain then grew immeasurably, dropping all three to the ground, writhing. After five seconds, the pain dissipated instantly.

"What the hell did you just do to us?!" Kira shouted.

 _A necessary precaution,_ Said Abelardus, inside the three's minds. _Every crew member on this ship is equipped with what is now inside your brain, we call it the nanocomm. A telepathic communicator that allows instantaneous communication, regardless of distance. However, for you three, your probes have been modified. To demonstrate…_ Abelardus gestured to a screen that lowered from the ceiling. The screen crackled to life, revealing a crude recreation of your run of the mill cooking show. The three turned to Abelardus, "Um," said Kira. "WHAT?"

"We've, uh, also been monitoring your 'internet', it is quite amusing," Abelardus replied. Ventus entered the cooking room from off screen, to a track of canned laughter.

"Now who else has had this problem?" Ventus asked as he put on an apron that said 'come near the cook and you die'. "You're stuck having to search a backwater planet for an ancient, all powerful superweapon before it falls into the wrong hands, and you gotta trust some hotheaded native with finding it so you don't cause too much of a fuss." Another track of blatantly fake laughter. "I know, if I had a nickel for every time. I mean, she used a bow and arrow for ancestor's sake! Luckily, we here at the Heaven's Lament have got you covered." From under the table, Ventus pulled out an orange, melon like fruit, and a syringe filled with silver fluid. "Behold, "the blender"! Same model as our usual nanocomms, but observe." Ventus injected the melon with the syringe, pushing the fluid inside. "These nanomachines have been outfitted with a special protocol, completely under Abelardus' control. If the native does something our king doesn't like, or threatens to reveal the true nature of her mission, take it away, boss!" Abelardus pressed another button on his gauntlet. The melon rapidly vibrated, almost falling off the table. Ventus then pulled out a small bowl and knife. He cut a small incision in the melon, and smoothly poured out its now liquidized contents into the bowl. "As you can see, Ms. Niste, we can, and will, liquefy you and your cohorts' brains if you endanger the mission in any way! Next week, we'll be showing how to dig out a kneecap with the end of a ballpoint pen. Don't forget to contribute to my patre-" Abelardus turned the screen off.

"He's taken to the internet more than most," Abelardus said. "So, in short-" he leaned in, returning to his menacing glare. "—do not disobey, do not reveal our presence, and you do not die. Can you do that?"

Ed gulped audibly, Jack glared daggers at Abelardus, and Kira just took a deep breath. "Yeah, I can do that."

Abelardus backed off again. "Good, go to the shipyard, your new pilot is waiting to take you back to Earth. Your one month begins the minute you make planetfall. You may leave." Abelardus walked back to the window.

Any other man would've killed _themselves_ if they were under the glare Kira had been giving her new master. She turned and stormed out of the room, Ed and Jack close behind.


	10. Chapter 10

**I LIIIIIIIVE! Yeah, so between working on an actual novel, a comic script, AND regular articles for my new job, I haven't exactly found the time for fanfics, and when I do have the time, I don't have the energy XD. But I'm back, and now back in the swing of things! See you all next chapter, and please rate, review, and all that good stuff but most of all, enjoy!**

Ed seemed convinced today that he had X-ray vision, because every time they passes a reflective surface on their way to the hangar, he would stare intently at his own reflection. Kira gave in. "Ed, what are you doing?" She asked.

"There's a blender in my brain," Ed said as if it were the most fascinating thing about their time on this spaceship staffed by uber powerful alien super soldiers. "Just…wow."

"Yeah, riveting," Kira replied, rolling her eyes.

"You're taking this rather well, Kira," said Jack.

"Honestly, I just don't think it's quite sunk in yet." Kira ran a hand through her hair. "I mean…this is a lot to handle." Her breathing quickened as her thoughts spiraled. "I mean, I'm still wrapping my head around the idea that I might, _might_ , be one of these guys!"

"Yeah, how would that work?" Ed asked, scratching his chin. "I mean, they're super tall, super strong, and even the women are built like really hot bodybuilders. That's pretty much the opposite of you." Ed chuckled, not noticing the anger radiating off of Kira like a Chernobyl of _fuck you._

"Moving on," Kira said through gritted teeth.

"Actually, Ed has a point," Jack chimed in, also oblivious to Kira's fuming. "I have known you for about three years, Kira. You are not the type of woman who would hold back if she had any of the abilities displayed by the Terrans. If it wasn't for the fact that an ancient Terran facility accepted your DNA, these claims would have absolutely no ground to stand on."

"And yet, it _did_ accept her DNA," said yet another Terran from around a corner, making Ed and Kira jump.

"Indeed, thus the mystery deepens," said Jack, unfazed by the newcomer (he heard him coming from down the hall a minute ago).

"Sorry 'bout that," said the Terran, tall as life with a mane of jet black hair. He looked down at Kira with a big jolly smile. "The name's Rictor. I'm the ship's combat specialist. You must be the new blood." Rictor held out a hand for Kira, who went to take it, and was promptly pulled into a _very_ tight hug. "Welcome aboard, kiddo!"

"Thank you, now let me go!" Kira choked out as her face actually turned blue. Rictor released her, chuckling heartily. "Are you our pilot?" Kira asked.

"Nah," said Rictor. "That'd be Lucky, he's down in the hangar. C'mon, I'll show you the way." He draped his arm over Kira's shoulders and basically dragged her down the hall, with Ed and Jack close behind.

"I don't think I like Rictor," said Ed.

"He is a touch…forward," Jack replied with a cocked eyebrow. Kira, meanwhile, seethed with annoyance at the manhandling, but could only grumble as the man's grip was like being non-lethally sandwiched between two double decker buses. Not enough to hurt, but enough to ensure she wasn't going anywhere.

* * *

After five minutes of walking (during which Jack managed to explain to Rictor why his forward nature wasn't winning any popularity with Kira, prompting him to apologize and let her walk the rest of the way) the four came upon the hangar. The roof was at least three stories high, and the floor was covered in Terran engineers all going about their business. Although every single one looked up from their work, at least for a moment, to see Kira walk by. Kira wasn't normally the socially awkward type, but the eyes of hundreds of curious men and women made her want to retreat into her shirt just to be out of their line of sight. Rictor saw this and bellowed, "Back to work, ya schuttas!" The engineers returned to their work. "Sorry about them, it's been a while since we had anyone new around here."

"I hadn't noticed," kira replied, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, where's this "lucky" guy?"

"Behind you, ma'am," Kira, Ed and Jack turned around to find quite a different terran. Lucky was exactly the correct term for the man in front of Kira, seeing as he only really had one appendage besides his head: his right arm. His legs, left arm, and right eye had all been replaced by cybernetic prosthetic. Except for his legs, which were instead replaced by a bulky, wheelchair-like contraption which hovered slightly over the ground instead of having wheels. He looked up at Kira with a wry smile that danced along scarred lips. "Feel free to stare, I know I'm quite the specimen."

Kira's face dusted red in embarrassment for a second as she averted her gaze. "S-sorry," she said, taking his hand to shake it.

Lucky shrugged. "No worries, I know I'm handsome. It's a terrible burden, believe me." Lucky gave Kira a wink through his slightly unkempt dark blue hair, causing Kira's slight dust of red to grow in intensity. Kira centered her entire life on being all fusion busting all the time, but she was still a woman with a beating heart in her chest. And scars drove her crazy.

A quick cough to get herself back on track, and Kira turned on her heel to focus on the ships placed around the hangar. "S-so, which of these are we using?" she asked.

Lucky rolled right up next to her. "That's up to you, beautiful."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well since we're trying to be all sneaky sneak this time, we can't very well go blasting into the nearest city in one of our skybreakers. Well, we could, and I want to, but we probably shouldn't. I'm gonna drop you three off planet side where no one will notice, and then you'll get me one of your ships for me to use."

"Not a bad idea, Lucky," Kira said, regaining her composure and sharing Lucky's wry grin.

What's that, dear viewer? Why am I not mentioning Ed's reaction to a random man putting the moves on Kira and it actually working? I shall answer that question with a question: Do I need to tell you how he's seething in pure jealous rage while Jack keeps him pinned to where he is with a single hand on his shoulder? You already know that's exactly what he was doing. And Kira was _loving it._

She smirked slightly, looking back at the steam coming out of Ed's ears as Lucky slid a bit closer to her side. _"Really hot bodybuilders," eh? Well, see how you like it._ She thought to herself.

Rictor grabbed Lucky by his one good ear and pulled back. "Down boy," he said, letting go. "Sorry about him, kiddo, he gets restless when he's stuck on the ship for too many centuries." Rictor looked back at Lucky. "Now, can we trust you to behave yourself?"

"'Course not," Lucky replied. The two broke out into laughter, and Rictor slapped Lucky on the back.

"Kira, this is the best pilot in our entire fleet. You're in good hands. I'll see ya around." With that, Rictor walked off.

Lucky turned his chair towards his ship. "C'mon, I imagine a lot of people are looking for you three."

Ed's eyes widened to the width of dinner plates. "Oh man, Eddy and Double D!" he shouted. Kira's face became similarly panicked.

"Eddy must have half the planet out looking for us!" she said. "Lucky, we need to get going, NOW!"

Lucky nodded, and led the two across the hangar to his personal ship: The Messenger. A sleek ship of shining chrome that glistened in the artificial light above. Shaped like a bullet, with two wings jutting out from the back, the ship just sorta hovered in place as they approached. "Explain," kira said, looking at Lucky while pointing at the ship.

"Well it can't very well be the fastest ship in the fleet if it has to waste time taking off and landing, now can it?" Lucky asked, mockingly incredulous. "Anyway, get in, I'll get you three home." Lucky pressed a button on the arm of his chair, opening a door in the side of the ship. From the bottom of the door frame, four steps levitated down individually, making a staircase for the four to get into the ship.

The stairs levitated up and folded back into place as Ed entered the ship behind everyone else, just barely managing to make it inside before the hole that was the doorway disappeared completely like liquid. "Not gonna miss this place," Ed grumbled under his breath as he looked for a seat. The seats, like the door, rose out of the floor like liquid, taking solid form for them. Lucky, meanwhile, hovered over to the front of the cockpit and lowered his chair to the floor, which proceeded to bond with the chair, mounting him in place. "Hang on tight, kids," he said, cracking his knuckles outward and laying his fingers on a holographic console that appeared before him with a low hum. At the same time, the cockpit's window opened up, revealing the hangar doors already open, with the storm of Jupiter awaiting them. "This may be a touch bumpy."

Kira tightened her grip on her seat more than she ever had with anything in her life. The ship moved supernaturally fast, zooming through the storm (which for those unaware, is at least 3 times the size of Earth) at unparalleled speeds. Lucky then pulled up, and within minutes, they had escaped the storm with nary a scratch on the paint job (assuming the ship HAD paint).

Lucky arched his head back with a smirk. "You three alright back there?" he asked. Ed declined to comment (mostly out of fear that opening his mouth would let out the vomit), Jack gave a barely composed thumbs up, and Kira, with a face so green one could mistake her for a member of the gangrene gang, just grunted. "Just get us home…" She then swallowed hard, forcing her lunch back to where it belonged. Lucky laughed heartily before igniting the afterburners once again. "Now keep hanging on, because if we're gonna get you guys back nice and quick, we're gonna have to top that speed." Lucky pressed another button on the holographic console, turning the console bright red. "We like to call this next trick: the folder" A beam shot out from the ship as it picked up speed. A portal, the same portal used by the ships back on Earth, silently exploded to life in the soundless vacuum of space. Through the other side, Kira could see Earth, as if it were already in front of her. And then it was.

The ship zoomed through the portal, coming out the other side, above the Earth. "Well, alright," said Lucky. "Only I call it the folder, but that's basically what it is: folding space and time like a piece of parchment and letting us safely travel through."

"As if I wasn't sick enough," Ed groaned, gripping his stomach.

"You'll get used to it eventually," said Lucky. "Now, I'm gonna put you three down somewhere secluded, where no one will see this eyesore of a ship as I slow down to drop you off." Lucky loved the messenger, truly, but its reflective, silver surface, when it wasn't zooming through space, was basically a neon sign labeled "shoot me, dumbass". Lucky pressed another set of buttons, beginning an active sweep of the planet for any area secluded enough no one would notice them, but close enough to civilization so Kira could walk there. He found a nice patch of forest near camp kidney, and set a course for the planet's surface.

Lucky stopped just above the tree line and opened the door for the three. "This'll have to do, I can't go any lower."

"This is fine, thanks," said Kira.

"No problem, new blood," Lucky replied with a thumbs up before grabbing a circular device from under the seat. "By the way, take this." He tossed Kira the device, and she caught it.

"What's this?" she asked, Ed and Jack waiting semi-patiently behind her.

"Just stick it on the ship you want me to use when no one's looking, it'll do the rest. Now get going." Kira looked out of the door to the forest floor, just barely visible through the trees. If she jumped to the sturdiest branch she could find, she could then climb down safely and-why was she already in the air? Kira looked up to find Ed had already picked her up bridal style, _again_ , and leapt down with Jack to the forest below. Ed placed Kira back on her feet, and Kira dusted off her pants. "Uh, thanks, but I was about to jump," she said.

"No, you were thinking about jumping, which would've taken hours," Ed replied.

"I do _not_ take that long, Ed!" Kira snapped back with an incredulous pout.

"Children," Jack chided firmly, calming the two down. "Now then, I've been in this area before. Camp Kidney is just a mile or two north, then from there we can get in contact with a patrol and be escorted back to Peach Creek."

"Yeah," Kira said, nodding. "C'mon, it's gonna be a day's hike at least."

"Great," Ed grumbled, following behind the two. A minute later, Ed probed a question on all three hero's minds. "Sooooo, who wants to explain to Eddy where we were and why we didn't call back? Anyone?"

"Don't look at me," said Kira. Jack said nothing.

Ed's grimace only grew. "They're gonna kill me…"


End file.
